Soulmate Tattoos
by loveathenaa
Summary: In a world where your soulmate's name is tattooed across your wrist, what happens when the forbidden dream becomes a reality? Will it tear apart relationships, or will it mend them for the better? Follow the eighth graders of John Quincy Adams Middle School as they embark on a journey that will change everything.
1. So It Begins

**Prompt: Your Soulmate's Name Is Tattooed On Your Wrist _(ubiquitous Tumblr prompt)_**

They say that most people got their tattoo by the time that they turned sixteen. A coming-of-age ceremony, if you will. A searing burn usually accompanied the new tattoo, along with a reddish hue that stayed on the skin for a day. It was always on the wrist- no case had ever been reported otherwise. A private name that was displayed in such a public area; the tattoo gave people more stress than it warranted.

A quintet of friends went to John Quincy Adams Middle School. A dreamer named Riley. A rebel named Maya. A cowboy named Lucas. A genius named Farkle. A wingman named Zay. With ninth grade looming over the horizon, many people in their grade had already started getting the first glimpses of their tattoo.

It was strange science. One day, a hot burn will wake you up. A faint name will be seared across your wrist, and try as you might, you cannot make out the name just yet. It will grow over the next few years, as your emotions will. It won't ever change or disappear. Soulmate tattoos don't make mistakes. Only people do.

Sometimes the name will come as a shock. Sometimes it will come as no surprise whatsoever. Sometimes it will come with pain. The "sometimes" abound, but something never changes: the tattoo never lies. The tattoo is always right, and there to stay. Some will try and defy science. They will pick boys that they "loved"; names that weren't on their wrists. These cases almost always end in failure. Sometimes they picked the wrong person with the right name, and unsurprisingly, these end up in failure as well.

For boys, the tattoo is always on the right wrist; for girls, it is on the left. When the couple holds hands, the tattoos will touch. As stated before, the tattoo is an infallible science, catered to humans when they wanted more insight into their lives.

* * *

One sunny Monday morning, Riley woke up with a hot burn that could only mean one thing. She quickly checked her wrist and shouted a high-pitched hurrah. For as surely as the sun rises in the morning and sets at night, her wrist had been blessed with a name. A surprisingly short name; one that had only five place markers.

 _Lucas,_ Riley thought with a sigh. Could it be? Was she going to get her "Corpanga" story? They hadn't had a lot of spark before, but maybe this would change everything. She wondered if Lucas had gotten his tattoo yet; did he already think of her? She looked at her tattoo again, a grey set of lines- one for each of the five letters. Riley smiled to herself and got out of bed, ready to start the day.

* * *

Ready to start the day. Lucas sure was. Lucas had already gone to baseball practice early in the morning. Being team captain was tough, but the high school team was already talking about recruiting him for the varsity team next year, and he didn't want to disappoint anyone. Least of all himself.

He stepped into the shower, and covered his body in a stream of hot water. Lathering up, Lucas stared at his wrist again. Being one year older than everyone else, he had already had his tattoo come in. His actually came in before he moved to New York. He still remembered the day; a sunny spring day with the birds outside. It had been a slight burn, and only had four place markers. It was about as faint as a soulmate tattoo could get; his parents just told him that it was because he hadn't met his soulmate yet. Lucas remembered feeling scared and anxious. Even though boys wouldn't admit it, they cared about this tattoo even more than the girls did. After all, he was expected to be the one to initiate the first date with a name that he had known for years.

Just as Lucas finished showering and throwing on clothes, his body tensed up and his wrist burned bright red. It was the hottest that he had ever remembered his tattoo getting, and Lucas sat down in a hurry. It wouldn't stop burning, so he splashed cold water on it. Gasping for breath, Lucas chugged some water down himself, and threw the rest of it over his wrist. His body covered in sweats, Lucas shuddered and put on a jacket for good measure.

What did it mean? The tattoos never hurt that much unless it was permanently sealed. Lucas felt a sense of dread overcome him. With such a sharp pain, there was no doubt in his mind that his tattoo was sealed. By now, there was no going back. The sharper the pain, the more chemistry the future couple would share. With such a _pleasant_ rejuvenation experience, Lucas was unsure of who the "lucky" girl was. If anything, all he knew was that it wasn't Riley. He hoped it wasn't. At least not now, anyways- they didn't have a lot of romantic chemistry. It was more of a... How did his classmates describe it? A summer rain? The kind of rain that is hot and sticky, and that people wished would stop so that they could go roast marshmallows over a campfire? Lucas didn't know. But he could. After all, the tattoo had sealed. Pitch-black ink, written right on his wrist. All he had to do was look.

And so he did.

* * *

At the other edge of Greenwich village, Maya also woke up with a searing pain. She fumbled around for a bit before turning on her lamp, groaning the whole way there. Maya shoved her wrist into her sleeve and started getting ready for school. She forsook the pre-established ritual of looking at her wrist; she was scared. Who would it be? No one had expressed romantic interest in her before- it was always Riley who boys fawned over.

Would it be someone she knew? She hated? A certain guy that Riley was in an "unofficial" relationship with? Maya shook those thoughts out of her head as she threw on some clothes. It didn't matter anyways. Some people deserved a happy ending, and Riley was one of them. Maya was sure that the universe knew that.

She was halfway done with breakfast when she couldn't help but stare at her covered wrist. In an effort to prevent herself from looking at it, she had worn bangles and bracelets. It didn't work. All it did was draw attention to the big question in her head. _Who was it?_

Maya reasoned with herself. Tattoos usually come in as a slow, gradual burn. It was never just what people called a "flash-tattoo". Those happened very rarely, and only for people like Cory and Topanga- truly _destined_ soulmates. People with so much built-up chemistry that their bodies had to reveal it sooner as opposed to later. Maya would be okay, right?

She gingerly took off the bangles and bracelets one by one, laying them on the table. Taking in a deep breath, she pulled up her sleeve. Her blue eyes widened in surprise as her body took in a giant inhale.

She was wrong. So wrong. Flash tattoos only happened for people like Cory and Topanga- and Maya. Her tattoo had come in early, and the pitch-black ink stuck out against her pale skin like a red warning sign. She wanted to ask for soulmate reassignment, if that was even a thing. The name on her wrist scared her more than she ever thought it could.

Five little letters. Five little letters that she had pushed away in the very beginning. Five little letters that belonged to her best friend, Riley. Five little letters that were supposed to have a happy ending- not one stuck with Maya, the broken girl who lived in a bad part of town.

Five little letters that spelled _Lucas._


	2. Peaches

Riley bounced on her bed. Maya was a little bit late, even by her admittedly low standards. _Where was she?_ Riley couldn't wait to tell her best friend about her tattoo. Sure, it was early. Sure, it hadn't set in yet. Sure, it could be any boy with a name of five letters. But tattoos that hurt _that_ badly usually meant that there was a lot of chemistry between the two... And Riley melted inside whenever Lucas smiled at her. They were finally going to get their happily ever after.

Never mind that Lucas and Maya had already been on several dates- it had to be him, right? Riley had always hoped that the little Texas episode would blow over soon. She still _really_ liked Lucas, and was putty in his hands. He was the Topanga to her Cory, the sunshine in her life, the reason that she put so much effort into her clothing for school. Could it really be him? Those five little letters that could dictate the rest of her life... Maya would be devastated, for that Riley was sure. But Maya could handle a little more rain. After all, Riley and Lucas was like a summer rain. And rain puts out fire, right?

Riley's thoughts were cut short when the blonde best friend peeped her head through the window. She smiled, and went over to welcome her friend. "Hi, peaches! Look at my outfit. Do you like it?" She was wearing a floral dress and knee-high boots- the perfect way to complement her recent growth spurt. "Come in, and let me see what you have on."

"Someone's in a chipper mood," Maya said as she climbed in through the bay window. She gave Riley a once-over and nodded. "You look nice. A little too floral-y for me, but I am sure that Farkle will appreciate it." Maya winked at her best friend, who just gave a sly smile. "Farkle" had six letters- not five. Guess who had five letters in his name? _Lucas._

"Anyways," Maya stood up and smoothed out her clothes. "What do you think?" She was wearing a nice red dress and heels that would give you blisters just by looking at them. She looked four years her senior, and liked the attention that she was attracting from the guys on the subway. The heels really made all the difference. Maya had taken up to wearing them to school- how else was she supposed to compete with Riley the Super-klutz and her other friends? Even Farkle had gone through a growth spurt and become Josh-incarnate. She didn't want to be called a "Shortstack" ever again.

Riley looked Maya up and down quickly, eager to get the morning inspection over with so that she could tell her best friend the great news. "You look wow. When am I going to look wow? Although, we could lose those heels. They make you look like one of those girls who does bad things," Riley said worriedly.

"In case you haven't met me before, I am a girl who does bad things," Maya said. "And good. That is exactly the kind of response that I want."

Riley just sighed, and carried on with her big news. She walked dramatically over to her bed and plopped down. Putting a hand to her forehead, she looked out the window. "We could easily go to school and pretend that the biggest event of my life hasn't just occurred," she said. She dropped her hand and winced a little. "Aside from, you know. The red ghost of Christmas past."

Riley moved on quickly, eager to forget the time that her mother finally gave the "You're finally a woman!" speech. It was awkward for them both.

"But nothing will happen ever again if I don't tell you what happened," Riley said. She had to physically force herself to not shake as she told Maya.

"I've gotten my tattoo," she announced with a giant grin, and was about to go on, but she realized that Maya looked quite miserable. What could it be? Riley racked her brain. Was it because Maya didn't get her tattoo yet? Riley was always the first one to do anything, despite Maya being more mature. She had to give that one over. But Maya wasn't one to get jealous. She wasn't jealous when Riley had three guys pining over her at the semi-formal and she couldn't even get one date. She didn't take Lucas for herself that fateful day on the subway station when she really could have. She was never jealous of Riley and her perfect life. Maybe a little bit of wishes and wants, but never down-right jealous.

Riley stared at her best friend and tried to figure out what was different with her appearance. Her eyes were fine. Not red. No sign of crying. Her hair was in the signature beachy wave style- Riley wanted her to change that too. It looked so wild and rebellious, as did the rest of Maya's outfit and demeanor. But Riley couldn't spot what was different with her best friend. Until she noticed that Maya was trying to hide her left arm behind her back.

Her eyes widened once she realized what was on Maya's arm. It was bandaged up and had an ice-pack strapped around it. Maya had tried to leave the house with the bangles and bracelets on, but Katy had insisted that she let it heal for a while before disturbing it with the metal jewelry. And now Riley was freaking out over her best friend's tattoo only slightly forgotten, obviously.

"What happened?!" Riley gaped at Maya's arm. "I leave you for one night, and you suddenly go to the ER for your arm! I am responsible for you, you know! I am the fixer! I cannot fix something that refuses to look after herself!" Riley's superiority complex shone through in times like this. People found it adorable, usually, as did Maya. _She thinks that she can take care of the whole planet,_ Maya usually cooed as Riley huffed away. But right now, it was just irritating, and Riley could see it on Maya's face. She decided to continue anyways.

"So tell me, Maya Penelope" -Riley earned a glare from Maya as she said her middle name- "Hart. What did you do to your arm?!"

Maya just laughed gingerly, and tried to tell the story in a way that warranted no questions. Specifically no questions about _who_ the tattoo was about.

"Nothing happened. My tattoo came in rather strongly, and my mom decided to ice it for a while. And no, I didn't go to the ER- I went to the kitchen à la Hart," she said sarcastically. These kinds of Riley episodes were really starting to get on her nerves. Especially since her secret was one that could ruin Riley's future with Lucas. All through the walk to Riley's, Maya had hoped that there was another Lucas that she had a strong connection with, only to come to the conclusion that she was dead.

Riley sighed. "Oh, good. You're okay," she smiled as she lifted up her sleeves, Maya's arm forgotten. "So, looky here. I got my tattoo!" she said as she drew Maya in closer. "It even has five placemarkers. And it hurt a lot when it came in, which means we have a lot of chemistry. I think that it's Lucas. See, you can even make out a faint L..." Riley's excitement bubbled down when she noticed Maya's arm again.

"Wait a minute. Mine didn't even need cold water, while yours needed the whole she-bang. Yours seem to hurt a lot more than mine did..." Riley sat, deep in thought.

"You know what?" Riley asked Maya, to which the latter could only give a half-hearted eyebrow raise. "We should go to school, and talk with our friends. Our good friends. Our best friends." Riley thought of Lucas and gave a little giggle. "Maybe they could help us out!"

And with that, the two best friends waltzed out the front door. They were almost all the way out of the apartment complex before Riley's mom came running behind them. Topanga shouted at the girls, who just stared at her uncomprehendingly. Riley's eyes widened in fear. What did they do this time? An angry Topanga Matthews was not someone that you wanted to deal with. Was it with Auggie? Did she forget to take out the trash? Is that why Topanga had two brown sacks in her hands? Is that why Topanga was shoving the bags into the girls' hands? No, it wasn't.

They had forgotten to eat breakfast.


	3. Why They Worked

Lucas stared at his wrist. He didn't know whether to feel anxiety or happiness. He could feel a smile start to spread across his face, but he quickly shut it down. This tattoo could- no, would- determine his future. Four little letters. Who knew that they could hold such power?

 _Maya._ There was no doubt about it. No way to twist it into another person and no way to get it erased. The only person he knew named Maya was the friend of _his girlfriend._ No matter how "unofficial" they were, Riley still took these things seriously. He didn't know what he was going to do. Tell Riley? He couldn't do that. After New Year's, he had sort of resumed this unofficial thing with her. Maya insisted on it, saying that "hope was for suckers". At this point, he would have to agree. The hope of happily ever after seemed to burn in his chest. He would rather be numb.

There was nothing wrong with Riley. Why didn't his body pick her? He was certain that her body would have, if his didn't go and rebel. Tattoos had to be mutual; you couldn't get one name and the other person get another. He guessed that that was the problem. He couldn't just go and settle for Riley, even if her sunshine and rainbows were adorable. Riley didn't make him feel _in_ love. And that's a big word for an eighth-grader to be saying, but not big enough for a person who literally got burns from his tattoo. Those kinds of burns only signified one thing.

Love. Maya made him feel it. She made him calm and exuberant all at the same time. She gave him butterflies- a feeling that Riley never evoked in him. She gave him smiles and laughs. Not the "Oh, look at Riley. She's so adorable, it's like she's still a child. Her antics are adorable," kind of smiles. No, she gave him the kind that said "Look at the way she's smiling at me. I want her to smile at me like that for the rest of my life. She makes me so happy. I hope I make her happy."

Maya was good for him, contrary to popular belief. She pulled him down when he got headstrong; after all, he could have been suspended for hitting Billy during that Farkle incident. She helped him get through it. Maya was a calming influence in his life; Farkle and Riley were, too. Even Zay. But Maya was different.

She accepted him for who he was. During Riley's bully episode, he wanted to provide for her and take care of her. He literally broke down barriers to help her. He wanted to be there for her; violence wasn't even on his mind yet. All he wanted was to get to Riley to comfort her. And she shut him down. She said that "they didn't like him when he was like this". Riley didn't like Lucas when he got protective. She didn't like "him", not "it" or "when". HIM. It broke down his whole heart when she said that she didn't accept this part of himself. It wasn't destructive. It wasn't violent. It was made out of pure platonic love; the whole reason that he went to Riley's was because he wanted to talk with her about it. Friends talk but real friends listen, right? That's all he wanted to do. Why did she push him away?

Maya didn't. She understood the difference between a violent Lucas and a caring Lucas, and that was a caring one. She even appeared to be attractive by his demeanor, asking him to show off his strength. Not that Lucas didn't like showing off, obviously. Being Pretty Boy did have its perks.

Maya had stopped him from being violent too many times for him to count. More than Farkle did. More than Riley ever did. She understood that it was wrong to be violent. But she also understood that whole-hearted and pure anger was not misplaced, and deserved a spot in life. He really appreciated Maya for that. If it was just Riley, he would have to be placed in a mental facility from trying to keep all anger inside.

And yes. When they were separated, they were horribly similar. Too much anger. Too much rebellion. Too much sensibility for Lucas. Too much hidden sensibility for Maya; she pretended to not care. She pretended to be _all_ sense, coming up with master plans and schemes. But inside, she was a girl who craved affection. She was sense _and_ sensibility. Without calming influences like their friends, both would have gone off the deep end.

But together, they were different. They were sense and sensibility. The campfire made him feel alive, more alive than he had ever felt before. The almost two years of friendship made them strong. They knew things about each other that even Riley didn't know. It was a good thing that Maya covered for the "Pappy Joe" incident, and that Riley was naive enough to buy it. Stupid enough, even. "Pappy Joe" wasn't even that common of a name. And Maya wasn't that in tune with the actual culture of Texas. There was no way that she could have guessed it. And, well, that's because she didn't.

Friends talk but real friends listen. Apparently, unofficial girlfriends talk. Friends listen. That's why he and Riley only worked when they were friends. It was just too awkward, and maybe Riley could only handle being friends. And this was after they had their first kiss. How come everything became so awkward? He certainly didn't like going out. Lucas broke off their ties faster than you could say "Make it official!" It was partly Riley's fault- she never wanted to _talk_ about it. It was party his fault- he couldn't make her _listen_.

But when he was with Maya, during their little dating period, he felt like nothing had changed. The girlfriend-boyfriend dynamic simply fit. She called him Huckleberry, and rightfully dumped a smoothie over his head when he tried to recycle his pick-up line. The one that he used with Riley. Yep. That dump was well deserved. She let him make it up, though. They had a date again. He went home and changed. Lucas put the effort to make it work. Because even though it was silence, it was silence with Maya. He enjoyed being with her, and being hers. He wanted to make the relationship work. He wanted to get past that tension from the campfire moment in Texas. He knew that they would have to talk about eventually. But at that point, he just wanted to take advantage of Riley's go-ahead. Which was subsequently taken away at New Year's.

He loved Maya. And whether it was middle school love or actual _love,_ Lucas couldn't tell. But all he knew was that Riley made him feel absolutely nothing when they were going out; he almost felt the opposite. Repulsion at the kind of relationship that their friends forced them into. Except, if he really wanted Riley, he would have been secretly glad for their peer pressure. Like spin the bottle. If it happened to land on a certain blonde beauty, he would have played. Even if he didn't like the game.

Lucas was in a deep pickle. And he didn't know it, but somewhere in the school, Maya and Riley had arrived. One with deep, profound anticipation. And one with dread- the kind that would have nurses calling a therapist. As it turned out, they were in a deep pickle, too. After all, Maya's tattoo spelled _Lucas._


	4. Passive-Aggressive

**_Please read the reviews under CHAPTER 4 for an author's note._**

* * *

Riley and Maya had arrived at school, lunches in hand. The subway ride was largely uneventful- the most exciting thing happened when Riley tumbled down the stairs and ended up in the garbage.

Maya tugged on her bangles. There were still thirty minutes until school started, and Maya technically could spill the beans. She had enough time. And she actually really wanted to. Honesty was the foundation of any friendship, right? She really didn't want to keep secrets from Riley, especially after she had made such a big deal about it during the whole Texas debacle.

Riley could very well just go with Lucas for the rest of her life. After New Year's, Maya had let Riley and Lucas get back together, and she immediately brightened up. All thoughts of depression seemed to fade the instant that Riley was back in Lucas's arms, even though that never actually happened. Rather, all thoughts of depression seemed to fade the instant that Riley was back openly _staring_ at Lucas. It's not like Riley actually made any effort to distance herself from Lucas when she let Maya and Lucas try their hand at a relationship; in fact, Riley actually appeared even more in love with him at that time than she ever did. She sat closer to him, and she talked to him when they were clearly hoping to talk about themselves.

At any rate, everything was back to where it was before. As it should be, and as it always would be.

* * *

The girls went up the stairs and entered the school. With so much time before school, it was nearly empty. Teachers milled about the hallways, clutching lesson plans and coffee mugs. Mr. Matthews, Riley's dad, gave a nod to Riley and Maya before entering the teachers' lounge for some much-needed coffee.

"Can you believe that our tattoos came in on the same day?" Riley bounced towards her locker and dumped her books in. She twirled back to her friend. "You haven't let me see yours yet. Can I see it?" Riley tried to pry the bangles from Maya's wrists.

Maya heaved a big sigh. "I don't know, Riley. It's kind of a personal thing," she said apologetically. She got a pensive look and avoided Riley's gaze.

"Hey, Riley, would you care if the guy is someone close to you? I wouldn't want you to get hurt," Maya said as she sat down at the bench outside the history classroom. Pulling out a sandwich from her lunch bag, Maya took a big bite. She shot a glare at Riley, who already had an amused smile on her face. "Don't judge me. I get hungry easily."

Riley laughed. "Don't be silly! I would never judge you." She walked on over to Maya and laid her head on Maya's shoulder. The two best friends sat in silence for a while before Riley decided to speak up.

"And I want you to know that I would never be mad about who your soulmate is. The universe has chosen you two to be together! How could I ever keep you guys apart? You feel whatever you need to feel. It is my job to be happy for you," Riley gave Maya a beaming smile. "Is it Farkle? Zay? Charlie? Do you even know who it is yet? Mine hasn't come in all the way, but I am almost 100% that it is Lucas."

Maya shrugged. "No, I don't know who it is yet. I don't think it matters much at this point, anyways. We're still so young. We have the rest of our lives to find our soulmates."

Riley nodded in agreement.

"What would happen if my soulmate was Lucas?" Maya asked as she flicked some dust off of the bench nonchalantly. She had to give off the impression that she didn't care what Riley's answer was. Riley was naive, but she was very suspicious. Especially after what happened in Texas; if Maya let Riley know that her soulmate was Lucas, all hell would break loose.

Riley laughed and shook her head. "Why would it be Lucas?" She turned to Maya and raised her eyebrows. "He's mine. I thought that we already agreed on this." Riley shook her head and looked at Maya incredulously as if to question every action that Maya ever did.

Maya nodded vigorously, hoping to dispel any suspicion in those big brown eyes. "No, no- we did agree. It's just that I was thinking about what you said." Maya picked at the invisible lint on her clothes before continuing.

"You know, how you said that the universe chooses for you. How there is a special God up there who looks out for you. And how sometimes we can wish for something as much as we possibly can and it still doesn't happen. Do you ever think that you and Lucas won't happen? That what you wished for isn't going to work? Sometimes things don't work out the way we want them to. My life is a perfect example."

"But sometimes it does work out," Riley replied aggressively. "Dreams can come true- for the right people, at least. I am a princess to Lucas. I can get everything that I want because I deserve it. I might not be the center of the universe, but I am the center of yours and Lucas's. It couldn't possibly be you and him. The only thing that you have in common with is me. I can't count the number of times that you guys spent time alone talking. Oh, wait. That's because you haven't talked alone." Riley retorted.

Maya just rolled her eyes and looked away. There was no point in arguing with an angry Riley.

"Are you trying to tell me something? Do you still like Lucas?" Riley's voice grew and got higher. She stood up and pointed a finger at Maya. If Maya still liked Lucas, Riley didn't stand a chance with him. And she knew it, so she retaliated with her trademark Riley Matthews's passive-aggressiveness.

"Show me your tattoo right now! I have the right to know who it is! I am your best friend!"

Maya got up and glared at her. "Yeah, right! Like you've been acting like one recently."

Riley stared Maya down. "What is that supposed to mean? I've been nothing but supportive of you! Remember when your dad came back and you were told to forgive him? Or when you tried to give up on art? What about all of that? I am the best possible friend that anyone could have."

Maya rolled her eyes. "That doesn't count. You never helped me with any of that. You were always just being pushy. And you know how I respond to that. I dig my heels in even more. I wasn't listening to you; you didn't help me with anything."

Maya ran her hands through her hair. "And who calls themselves a 'best possible friend' anyways? Only someone who is self-righteous. Like you! Someone who believes that they are the best at everything and that everyone likes them. Someone who believes that they deserve everything!" Maya shouted at her best friend.

"Obviously!" Riley retorted. "I do my homework, I get straight A's, I take care of Auggie, I'm a _great_ friend, and I always spend time to take care of your problems. Your _many_ problems," Riley emphasized the last sentence. "I do everything right! I do deserve everything! I have done nothing wrong!"

Maya stomped her feet in agitation and huffed underneath her breath. "And I have?!" She was just about to fire a selective string of words when she looked up just in time to see Lucas descending the stairs. _Oh no_ , Maya thought. She couldn't let Lucas know that they were essentially fighting about him, so she put up a brave front and greeted him.

"Hey, Huckleberry," she said to Lucas. "Would you care to talk to your darling here about the importance of being humble?"

Riley stuck her tongue out at Maya. "You can't call him Huckleberry! Only I can." She took Lucas's arm possessively and smiled sweetly.

Lucas shook his arm free of Riley's grasp and tried to keep his face from betraying his annoyance. "Riley, Maya can call me anything she wants. It's not like it means anything romantic."

Maya gave him a grateful smile.

Riley shot him a look as she prepared to interrogate him. The little jokes and nicknames had finally gotten to her head. "You know," Riley said as she circled her two friends.

"I could never get Uncle Eric's question out of my head. Why do you let her make fun of you? Tell me. Now." Riley demanded as she crossed her arms and stared at Lucas.

He immediately became shocked. The poor boy stammered for a few seconds before looking at the ground to recollect his thoughts. When he finally did talk, he got off to a rough start.

"Um, well," he started with a grimace.

Riley raised her eyebrows. "Come on, buddy. Let's go." She walked on over to Maya and sat down. "Dazzle me."

Lucas gave Riley a weak smile. "I like Maya," he said quickly. "You know, as a friend."

Maya heaved a gentle sigh that did not go unnoticed by Lucas.

"I like to please my friends, and this teasing thing makes her happy. And oddly enough, it makes me happy, too. Otherwise, I would never put up with it. I am, however, more than thrilled to be able to provide for Maya, the Amazonian warrior princess." He said with a smile.

Maya gave him a smile back. "Thanks, Ranger Rick. I am still kind of angry about being called a 'short stack of pancakes', though."

Lucas put his hands up in mock surrender. "Hey, a lot of guys say that to their girlfriends in the movies. I thought that it was a sign of affection," he shot her a smile and winked.

Riley got up again and stood between the two. It was time to get back to business.

"How come you didn't like it when I acted like this towards you?" She stared at him. "You know, when we went to Texas and I tried to act like your sister- like Maya." Riley gave a sickening smile over her shoulder to her best friend, who just grimaced in response.

"Well, that was different. I didn't like that kind of bantering because that wasn't you," Lucas replied earnestly.

"But it made me happy," Riley replied.

"No, it didn't," Lucas said forcefully. "It killed you inside. And it wasn't us. It made no one happy."

Riley gave him a shy smile. "Okay, then. I guess I could forgive you for that. Would you call me 'Princess Dancing Sunshine', Lucas?"

He smiled with sad eyes. "I thought we already went through this during the whole 'Maya goes wild' day. I would not call you that," he confirmed. Lucas shoved his hands inside his pockets and rocked back and forth. "It is rather much, don't you think?"

Riley gave him a sad smile. "And yet, you would call Maya an Amazonian Warrior Princess. I think I have all the information I need to know."

Lucas sighed. "Riley, wait! Let's be reasonable! That's not what I meant at all!"

She shook her head. "We have class now. If you have anything to say to me," she walked on over to the door. "We can talk afterward." Riley entered the classroom without a second look back.

Lucas glanced over to Maya, who had collapsed over her lap. Her arms hung limply by her legs, and her bangles clattered to the floor. She stayed there, too tired to move. The morning debacle had made her lose all her energy; it made her so tired that she didn't even notice that her bangles had fallen off and that Lucas could see her wrists. Thankfully, Lucas was a bit slow, so all he noticed was that her wrist was overly red. He didn't even think to check it for a tattoo.

Mr. Matthews stuck his head out of the classroom door. "Come on, guys. You don't want to be out in the hallway when the rest of the school storms in. Let's go."

Lucas obliged and walked past Mr. Matthews. Maya followed shortly after, stretching her arms above her head. The whole morning had passed by quite well, considering all that had happened. As she walked past, Maya put her hand over Mr. Matthews's face. She was just about ready to bag the morning as a success, why not have some fun? Life could only get easier now- nobody knew about her tattoo.

Until Mr. Matthews caught the word on Maya's wrist when she flung her hand onto his face.

 _Lucas._

* * *

Somewhere else in the middle school, Farkle was performing a science experiment. He wanted to test how the growth of algae would be determined by the amount and type of sunlight. Unfortunately, Farkle had fallen asleep at the table. Somehow, four hours was no longer enough for his teenage body. Suddenly, a slow burn crossed his wrist. Seven place-holders appeared with a faint outline of the name _Smackle._


	5. Soulmate Tattoos 101

_**Please read the reviews under CHAPTER 5 for an author's note.**_

* * *

Cory entered the classroom after Maya and stared at the kids. Maya sat in her chair, rolling her eyes at Lucas who kept trying to get her attention by poking her in the back. Riley folded her arms across her chest and looked at her dad expectantly. He started nervously biting his lip, and his eyes darted from Maya to Lucas to Riley and back again. When did this happen? He thought that it was always Riley and Lucas- not Lucas and Maya! He had been protecting the wrong girl this whole time; what kind of a dad was he? As he mentally beat himself up, he cleaned off the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk. The kids started at him, amused, as he shook himself out of his trance and wrote on the blackboard: **Belgium 1831**.

Riley raised her hand. "Daddy?"

Mr. Matthews turned around with a slight grimace on his face. "Yes, pumpkin?" He dreaded to hear what her question was. No doubt that it was about Maya and Lucas; he could hear the girls fighting earlier. Had Maya told Riley yet? He couldn't tell. It was best not to say anything; he didn't want to rock the boat. So instead, he sat on his desk and folded his hands in his lap. "What's up?"

"Someone needs to learn a lesson," she said in a sing-song tone. Her eyebrows slanted towards Maya comically.

Mr. Matthews chuckled. "Someone does? Who, Lucas?" He turned towards Lucas. "Sir, I think you will find that poking a woman continuously in the back will not get you on her good side."

Lucas looked up from his poking, his smile frozen onto his face. He quickly withdrew his hand and whispered an apology.

Maya just rolled her eyes in response.

Riley watched the exchange, bemused and happy before remembering that she was angry at Maya. Her face quickly soured. "Not Lucas, Daddy. Maya. Maya needs to learn a lesson," she stated. "And I think that you should teach her this valuable lesson of _friendship,_ and what it means. I think that Maya needs a refresher."

"Oh, she does?" Mr. Matthews humored his daughter. "You think so?"

Maya looked at Mr. Matthews pleadingly. "That's not true, Mr. Matthews! There is no problem!" With all of the effort that she put into the friendship, Maya couldn't believe that Riley was so angry at her- especially since she didn't even get to make her case before Riley appealed to the higher court (in this case, her dad).

Riley's eyebrows lifted up in an air of disbelief. "Oh yeah? Well, then why did you ask me what would happen if your tattoo said Lucas?" She looked at Maya expectantly.

Mr. Matthews's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at Maya. Lucas looked at Maya with a newfound sense of appreciation and hope. His tattoo said "Maya", and there was a 99.9% chance that her tattoo said "Lucas". Nothing in the universe was stopping them now. Well, except for the tall brunette who sat in her chair, seething away at her best friend.

Maya threw her hands up in the air. "Right! That's what I said!" She turned towards her best friend and stared at her. "That's all I said. I didn't mean anything by it; my tattoo hasn't even come in yet. You have to believe me, I would never let a guy come between us- it's not important enough." She looked over to Lucas to apologize. "Sorry, Huckleberry. It's nothing personal. Actually, it kind of is," Maya laughed.

Lucas just sighed and slinked further down his chair, wishing that class would start. Of course, he took it personally! Even though it was a tad selfish- after all, who wouldn't want two girls fighting over him? And now he's not important? What a fabulous day.

Mr. Matthews made a move to start speaking before Maya shot him a death glare. He quickly piped down and moved back behind his desk, busying himself with nothing as he eavesdropped on the trio of angry teenagers.

Riley's face instantly calmed down as she smiled with relief. "Really? It didn't mean anything?"

All thoughts of anger seemed to dissipate as she looked at Maya. Riley, though all sunshine and rainbows, had a tendency to get passive-aggressive and self-righteous when angry. Well, at least, that's what her mom said. And Riley couldn't exactly disagree. She still remembered the time that she accused Maya of being a bully and threw ice cream into her face. Or the times that she pointed out Maya's home life in order to make herself and Farkle feel better. Or the time that she talked "bad" about a cheerleader when she was still off the squad (she said that girl was the worst on the team behind her back). Or the time-. Riley cut her own thoughts off before she could start listing all of her faults. There was no reason to make herself feel bad.

Maya noticed that Mr. Matthews was looking at her a little too closely. He was gauging her reaction to Riley's question as if he already had reason to be suspicious, and that couldn't happen. To the public eye, her question meant nothing. She would have to have a little talk with him later. Was it possible he knew she was hiding something? No! She had only gotten the tattoo earlier that day, and it was always covered in bangles. There was no way that he could know. He couldn't know! Maya wasn't the best of friends. She wasn't even a particularly good person. She was too rebellious for her own good and often required Riley's insistent persuasion to stop being bad. She "hid out" in school, and she didn't have any real ambitions other than for art. She knew that whenever she got wild, she was a disappointment to everybody. What hurt the most was that she was aware of all of this. While Riley might be too sunshiny for her own good, Farkle too arrogant, and Lucas too violent, they still could work with what they got. And they were still succeeding at making themselves better. Maya, on the other hand, was branded as an impossible case. And she knew it.

The pity party would have to wait. Maya turned her attention back towards her best friend. "No, my question didn't mean anything, at least not anything important. I just wanted to know how you would react if it was Lucas. I was kind of testing you, and I know that I shouldn't have, but I wanted to see how you would respond," she explained. Maya was a pro at lying through her teeth, and luckily enough, Riley was a pro at believing her. Nobody else would buy her excuse. For example, Maya didn't even have to look at Lucas to know that he didn't buy any of what she was saying. That was okay, though. They could talk later. Right now, the important person was Riley. Maya had overestimated Riley. She was still extremely insecure and fragile and needed to be protected. Maya shouldn't have tested the waters. So what if she was going to live the rest of her life out in solitude? Riley was good, pure, and wholesome. She wasn't; she was the person who caused this whole mess in the first place. Riley, on the other hand, was the person who Maya couldn't lose because she was all that was good in the world, and Maya was all that was bad. She had to make this right.

Riley sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry, Maya," Riley apologized to the blonde who just waved her hand in response. "I yelled at you and accused you of doing things that you would never dream of doing. I'm just a mess, aren't I?"

Maya just smiled. "Hey," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "That kind of stuff comes with the best friend territory. I'm just glad that I have you."

Riley laughed softly and tucked her hair behind her ear. "As usual," she admitted. "You're right." Riley turned to Maya. "I will always have a lot to learn, won't I?"

"I guess so," Maya responded. "But I'll be there to guide you along the way. We'll get through this life thing together."

The girls got up and shared a hug. Mr. Matthews looked on from a distance, and sobbed with a hand over his heart. Lucas had a gentle curve to his lips as he watched two of his best friends make up. The beautiful and loving moment was shortly lived, however, as Farkle came bursting through the door and announced his arrival with a foghorn.

"Hello, fellow classmates! I have something important to share. Farkle time, sir?" He directed the question to Mr. Matthews, who looked exuberant with joy.

"Oh, I love Farkle time. We haven't had one in a while," he said as he made his way to one of the desks. Mr. Matthews pretended to like Farkle time because it was interesting and thought-provoking, and he liked to have Farkle express himself whenever possible. In all reality, he just liked not having to teach.

"The floor is yours, Mr. Minkus. Take all the time that you want," Mr. Matthews looked over to Riley, who was still wrapped around Maya. "I actually didn't have a lesson plan for Belgium today," he whispered secretively.

Farkle pretended not to hear that and nodded his thanks to Mr. Matthews. "Today marks a momentous occasion for me- Farkle Minkus."

Riley untangled herself from Maya and jumped up and down. "Yay! Good for you!" Riley glowed with anticipation. "What happened?"

"Something wonderful," Farkle began. "Something extraordinary. Something that will define-"

Maya threw a piece of paper at Farkle's face. "If you don't get this show on the road, I'll show you something extraordinary," she glowered.

Farkle threw it back at her, annoyed, only to have it land on Riley's head. Riley rolled her eyes playfully and threw it back into the trashcan.

Farkle stared at his friends, unable to comprehend their pure talent in sports. Even Riley was better than him! "Do you guys never miss?!"

Maya forced a smile. "Apparently not, Mr. Genius. Can we get back to your big announcement, please? I need to have the class start before I ditch it."

Mr. Matthews looked at Maya in disbelief. "I already know that you're here," he said emphatically. "You can't ditch!"

Maya was just about to retort before Farkle snapped his fingers.

"Hello, Mr. Matthews? I still have my big announcement to make, and you don't want to have Maya running off. Again." He walked on over to Maya and Riley and stood between their desks. "As I was saying, this is the day that will define my entire future. Apart from my college choices, of course. This is the day that Farkle Minkus is no longer available to either of you darlings."

"Oh, what a tragedy," Maya replied dryly.

Riley snickered before putting on a straight face. "It truly is a tragedy, Farkle."

Farkle ignored her. "For on this day, Farkle Minkus got his tattoo." He showed his wrist to Riley. "Early, I might add. And it revealed that my soulmate is one Isadora Smackle!"

Maya's eyes widened as she jumped up and gave Farkle a hug. "Oh my goodness! That's amazing! I always thought that you two were perfect for each other," she said as she clapped him on the back.

He coughed a little at the force of her slap, but regained footing and smiled at her thankfully. "I'm very glad that you are happy for me. I know how you guys get when it comes to other girls. Remember that time when you and Riley fought over-"

Maya made a gesture in the air. "Ah, ah, ah. I thought we agreed to never speak of that again."

Riley shook her head. "No, we agreed to never settle for anything less than Farkle." She smiled at her friend, who gave her a hug in return. "I'm so happy for you. You deserve it," she said.

"Thanks, guys. Your support means a lot to me," Farkle confided. He turned towards Lucas, who still sat in his seat. "What about you? Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Lucas stood up with a ginormous smile. "Of course, I'm happy for you," he said as he clapped him on the back. "Does she know yet?"

Farkle shook his head. "No-I haven't told her. Do you think that she will be freaked out by my tattoo? That it might cause her to run away?" Farkle looked concerned as he contemplated the possibilities of losing Smackle because of early commitment issues.

"No," Maya said confidently. "Smackle's a smart girl- she won't be scared by some tattoo. She knows what it means."

Riley agreed. "And even if she does run away, we'll be there to make sure that she doesn't get too far."

The group laughed as the rest of the class filed in. Darby and Yogi exchanged hugs and headed to their seats, while Sarah rubbed her eyes and stumbled into Riley, who redirected her towards her desk.

Mr. Matthews gave Farkle a hug. "Congratulations, Farkle. I wish you all the happiness and luck."

Farkle knit his eyebrows together. "Luck? Why would I need luck? We're soulmates. Everything is going to work together."

Mr. Matthews shook his head. "Not necessarily. Relationships still need work- having a tattoo doesn't make it any easier. It sounds like you need a little crash course in Soulmate Tattoos 101. In fact," he turned towards the class, "since so many of you have gotten your tattoos, today is going to be a class about them." Mr. Matthews mentally gave himself a pat on the back for coming up with a new lesson plan before class started.

The class chattered excitedly as he erased the blackboard (much to Farkle's chagrin) and wrote: **Soulmate Tattoos**.

"These tattoos have been around for about 100 years. In those 100 years, instances of abuse and divorce have dropped down to nearly zero. They still haven't been eradicated, though. I want you to remember this. Just because you are soulmates with somebody doesn't mean that there won't be trouble along the way.

"Your soulmate tattoo just gives an indication of who your 'person' is. The person who fits you. You will still have fights, and some still try to pursue other people before settling for their soulmate. Just remember that the name on your wrist is correct, and it is your one and only soulmate. There is no 'Romeo and Juliet' situation. Don't mess it up."

Mr. Matthews wrote on the whiteboard. "A soulmate has three distinct characteristics. Number one: you must have something in common. Maybe a love for art or history. Something that binds you together superficially." Riley smiled. Her and Lucas were very alike. Things were looking up for her.

"However," Mr. Matthews continued. "This type of likeness is not the same as similar personalities. It is not about if you two are both extremely kind or caring. It is about the fact that even if you two were complete strangers, you would have something to _talk about_. Maybe a shared history of hardships or a particular affinity towards banter. This type of likeness is especially important during the first stages of your courtship. And it can't be a one-sided conversation. It has to be a cooperative effort, not just one girl listening while the boy talks."

Riley furrowed her brow as she listened to her dad publically, though indirectly, denounce her relationship with Lucas.

He continued on. "The second characteristic is complementary personalities. This goes in line with the whole 'opposites attract' approach."

Mr. Matthews walked around the room. "You cannot have the same set of personality traits. You have to complement each other. You have to be able to make each other better. If you both are goody two-shoes, you will be bored rather quickly. If you are both rebels, nobody will stop and calm you down. A good pairing will have opposites. For example, one person needs to have good morals. If the other person was exactly the same, the relationship will be like stale bread. Or a nun convent."

The class tittered as they anxiously took notes on their future spouse.

"While everyone is complex and not just one characteristic, it helps if you guys have slightly different personalities. You have to challenge each other, make each other stronger. My wife, Topanga, and I are a good example. There was an extremely dark time in my life when I was enamored with a girl named Lauren."

Mr. Matthews shuddered as he remembered Topanga's wrath. "She was nice, and we enjoyed listening to each other's stories."

Lucas snook a concerned glance over to Riley, only to find that she was already staring at him. The two quickly diverted their attention back towards the front.

"I was infatuated with her. Topanga wasn't happy about this, and we broke up for a while. She went on a date with a snooty guy, and they went to the museum, too. She tried to test my knowledge of a painting. I didn't get it. I needed her to teach me. I needed her. Relationships are more than tests about paintings. But she made me better by introducing this world of knowledge and art. I brought my goofiness to the table. We complemented each other, but we also helped each other grow into better people. If you agree on every single thing, life will become boring very fast. I know that some of you in here are romantics, namely my daughter."

Riley smiled sheepishly and waved her hand to the class.

"I know that you would like to believe in happily ever after and true love. The soulmate tattoos do send this kind of signal. But you have to realize that there is a special kind of 'superficial' aspect to a relationship. Love is built upon by these little relationship-builders- it isn't just pure love. There needs to be a firm foundation of true love, trust, complementary personalities, and change. That is the third aspect of your soulmate. You have to be able to change each other. Some people, like my other daughter," Mr. Matthews gestured to Maya, who nodded in agreement, "are very averse to outside change. They don't like to be pushed. It is a strange incident when they do accept someone's philosophy or advice. Her soulmate will be someone who can change her and get her to look at the world differently."

Lucas looked over at Maya hopefully, but she refused to turn around and meet his (predictable) gaze. Mr. Matthews smiled in amusement.

"You have to be able to change each other. You also need to have something to change. A true relationship is always growing and changing. It never stales. You guys need to be able to grow together."

"Now normally your tattoo will appear with a set of lines. Riley, would you come up here, please?"

Riley walked over to the front of the room and showed her wrist.

"As you guys can see, the lines typically appear like a set of hangman lines. They are just placeholders for the letters. If you don't know the person well enough, this will happen. And it will happen to most of you. Thank you, Riley," he said as he sent a disgruntled Riley back to her seat.

"Farkle, will you come up, please?"

He bounded up from his seat and dashed to the front, sticking his wrist into Mr. Matthews's face. Mr. Matthews laughed and redirected Farkle's arm. "Okay, Farkle, can we show it to the class?"

He obliged, embarrassed at his excitement.

"This happens when you already know the person very well. The tattoo appears gray, but will darken with time. It usually hits its darkest when you have a lot of intensity and passion between the two of you. I don't expect any of you guys to have that now,"

Maya and Lucas both imperceptibly tugged on their disguises- for Lucas, a shirt. For Maya, her bangles.

"You are still in middle school, after all," Mr. Matthews laughed a little as he sent Farkle back. "They will get darker with time, don't worry. Oh, and don't try to change your tattoo- there is a thing called soulmate reassignment surgery. If you do that, though, someone will be left with no soulmate because of your selfishness."

The class looked around, disturbed. No one liked to be called selfish.

He looked directly at his daughter. "Sometimes, we don't get who we want. But it always turns out to be for the best. Don't fight nature; embrace it." Mr. Matthews turned back towards the class. "These tattoos are a wonderful thing. They let you know who your soulmate is. They are romantic and beautiful. If something happens that you don't like, embrace it. Things happen for a reason. You have no reason to be unhappy with your tattoo. They are always right, and always will bring you joy. Even if you hate the person right now. And even if there is something in the way." Mr. Matthews clapped his hands together.

"Now, I understand that you have your science mid-term tomorrow! I am told that your experiment is a bit of a doozy. Rest up for that. Also, tomorrow, we have the Battles of Panipat. It's a real page turner!"

The class groaned as Mr. Matthews rambled on about war statistics and historic facts. Maya gathered up her things and stared at Mr. Matthews. Lucas followed her movements, an action not unnoticed by Riley.

Farkle watched the three of them with a keen eye. Something was off. Riley didn't look very happy, and she kept on looking at Lucas, who refused to return her gaze. Instead, he was looking at the blondie. She tucked her hair behind her ear and put her arm on his desk. She held out her hand to him, and he placed his hand in hers. She pinned it down to the desk and pulled out a Sharpie.

Riley gasped. "Maya, you can't draw on Lucas!"

Maya looked over at Lucas lazily to gauge his reaction. "You mind?"

Lucas shrugged. "No. Just make sure to add a cowboy hat and rose in there for me," he said with a hint of a smile.

Maya nodded. "Sure thing, Bucky McBoing Boing."

Lucas laughed as she uncapped the marker and proceeded to draw on his arm.

Riley frowned ever so slightly. She didn't know why, but she had hoped that Lucas would refuse Maya's request. Obviously he didn't, and now their heads were both bent over Lucas's arm. His head was positioned slightly above hers so that he could smell Maya's shampoo. Mango? He didn't think that her shampoo scent would be so fruity. He stared at the blonde, who was concentrating on the drawing so hard that she didn't notice their proximity.

The bell rang loudly, signaling the end of class. Maya jumped, and her head knocked against Lucas's chin. The pair groaned.

Mr. Matthews grimaced and directed his attention to the rest of the class. "Okay, see you tomorrow! The Battles of Panipat! Great fun!"

The class ignored him as they filed out.

Lucas looked over at Maya, concern etched onto his face. "You okay?"

She nodded, annoyed. "Your Roman, god-like jaw gave me a headache," she complained as she clutched her head.

Lucas's eyebrows raised as his face broke into a grin. "You admire my jawline?"

Maya shook her head, confused. "Where'd you get that idea, Huckleberry? I'm thinking that maybe you got hit in the head, too."

"Well, you said that I had a Roman, god-like jaw. And Riley told me that you like a strong jaw."

Maya glared at the brunette who squeaked and ducked out of the classroom. She turned her attention to the boy who was beaming like a little boy. She tried to find a good comeback, but failed. The throbbing in her head had gotten worse, and all she wanted was some ice to put on it. She picked up her books. "You know that I have a good comeback for that," she explained as she left the classroom.

Lucas followed with Farkle on his tail. "Of course you do," Lucas answered good-naturedly as he took Maya's books from her arms.

Riley spoke up. "You don't need to carry her books, Lucas," she said with a little smile.

Lucas shrugged. "Okay," he said as he gave the books over to Farkle, who gladly took them. There was a secret code that said the boys took care of Maya's dirty work, such as carrying her books.

Riley was well aware of this fact. "And neither do you, Farkle!"

Farkle laughed and gave them back to Maya, who glared at him in anger. Riley turned back towards her locker to find the books for her next class.

Lucas secretly took Maya's books when Riley's back was turned and had Farkle shove them into his backpack.

Maya grinned, only to have Farkle tug her bangles off of her arm. "Hey! What's the big idea?" She said angrily as she covered her wrist.

"Hey, you got your tattoos!" Farkle exclaimed as he gave the bangles back to Maya, who shoved them on.

Riley returned and stared at the commotion, confused.

Farkle tugged on Lucas's sleeve. "And so did you!"

Riley's eyes lit up. "How many placeholders does it have, Farkle?"

Lucas tried to hide his arm, but Farkle twisted it to face him. Lucas groaned in agony.

Farkle focused his eyes on Lucas's tattoo, and the letters screamed out at him. _MAYA._

Farkle quickly dropped Lucas's arm and forced a smile onto his face. He stared at Maya, who was rearranging her bangles.

He turned back to Lucas. "Hey, Lucas. Can we talk after school?"

Lucas nodded numbly and left the scene.

Riley looked over at Maya. Why did she want to hide her tattoo? Why was Lucas so scared? Why did Farkle want to talk to Lucas after school? Riley didn't like the way that things were going.

"Something's changing, Maya."


	6. Pseudo-Feminism

_**Please read the reviews under Chapter 6 for an AUTHOR'S NOTE.**_

* * *

Lucas waited outside Topanga's nervously. Farkle had wanted to meet him after school to talk about something... He didn't know what. Farkle had seemed agitated after he saw Lucas's arm. Did he see the tattoo? No one knew for sure.

Farkle hurried down the steps and shouted out Lucas's name. He was dressed in black skinny jeans and a space shirt that said "I support Pluto". Lucas still needed to adjust to Farkle's new look. What did Riley call it? Geek-chic? Lucas wrinkled his nose. Was that even a thing?

"Hey, man," Farkle greeted his friend warmly, as if he hadn't just been scarred for life. "You wanna go in?" He gestured to the door.

"Sure," Lucas replied as he headed in. He wrung his hands as Farkle sat down. "What did you want to talk about?" He asked good-naturedly, trying to hide his anxiety.

Farkle gulped. "Oh, wow. Going right in, I see. I guess there really is no point in beating around the bush." He scratched his head. "I don't know how to ask you this without seeing invasive. All I want you to know is that I really care about you and the girls. I don't want anything to change."

Lucas frowned. "Change can be a good thing, Farkle. If you let it be, at least."

Farkle shrugged, not convinced. "Yeah, tell that to Riley and see her burst into tears." He did a double-take as Lucas snorted with a hint of laughter.

"Why'd you just make that noise?" Farkle asked, alarmed. It sounded so condescending and... _mean._

Lucas's eyes widened. "No, no! I didn't mean it in a bad way. It's just that you can't depend on Riley for that kind of stuff. She's so adverse to change that she believes the current situation is the best one possible," Lucas explained. "She's quite adorable, really," Lucas said with a smile.

Farkle wrinkled his nose, uncomprehending.

"Yeah, see, I don't get that," Farkle said with a shake of his head. "You look so happy talking about Riley, but I never see you this happy when you're actually with her. Why is that?"

Lucas looked like he'd been slapped in the face. "Gee," he stalled. "I don't know. Feelings are a lot harder to express when you're facing the person," he tried to explain it in a way that didn't completely denounce the fact that he was _supposed_ to like her but yet didn't force him to lie. "I guess I'm just not ready for this kind of stuff. You know, that's why Riley and I stopped dating." Lucas did like Riley, especially in the beginning. Who wouldn't like that ball of sunshine? Unfortunately, a similar fireball occupied almost every part of his life, and he could never get her out of his head.

Farkle disagreed. There was no way that Lucas was not ready for even a middle school relationship. He was a whole year older than all of them!

"No, it's not that. I saw your tattoo today," he accused Lucas vehemently. "Your soulmate is Maya! That's why you wanted to break up with Riley! You never really felt that 'spark'!" Farkle jumped up and started waving his arms widely like a madman. How could Lucas have led Riley on like that? It was utterly preposterous!

Lucas looked around before pulling Farkle back down. "Will you calm it down a little?" He hissed quietly, hoping no one thought it was weird that two teenage boys were whispering in a crowded café. "I just got the tattoo this morning. It's not like I wanted to hurt Riley. I really thought that we were going to end up together. If not now, at least later." Lucas explained.

Farkle just shook his head sadly. Even if Lucas was sincere this whole time, it didn't change the fact that Riley was never going to be his soulmate. "You know that this is going to hurt her a lot."

"What am I supposed to do, Farkle? Get soulmate reassignment surgery?" Lucas asked helplessly.

Farkle's eyes lit up. "That is an option, you know..."

Lucas wagged his finger at him. "No! That's not going to happen! Maya needs me; if I got reassigned, she would be alone forever! Maya doesn't deserve that! Not with everything else that's wrong in her life."

Farkle sighed, exasperated. "Well, isn't that the problem? You will always prioritize Maya over Riley."

Lucas threw his arms up into the air. "She is my soulmate! What do you expect? And it isn't like you aren't prioritizing Riley right now!"

Farkle stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I expected you to want to keep Riley happy."

Lucas stood up and stared at his friend. "And I expected you to want to keep _Maya_ happy, but it looks like that is the least of your worries right now. Why is that, Farkle? Is it because you view Riley like a sweet, innocent girl who needs to be protected and Maya as a girl who can 'handle herself' all on her own?"

Farkle threw his hands up in the air. "She can! Maya's a tough girl, she can handle all of this on her own."

Lucas shook his head angrily. "But she shouldn't have to."

Farkle looked up, slightly ashamed. Lucas wasn't painting him in a very nice light right now- he just had been too concerned with Riley to see it.

"I thought you, of all people, would recognize that both girls need the same amount of attention and love." Lucas said sadly. "Maya's a tough girl, that's true. She has seen so much, and been through so much, that people automatically discredit her sadness and anger. They think that she's untouchable. You need to re-evaluate your priorities, Farkle. Sure, she can handle herself out there. We've seen it time and time again. She carries the weight of her whole world in her hands, not to mention all the baggage that she drags around for Riley." Lucas shoved his hands into his pockets.

"She handles a lot of things on her own. But she has friends. She shouldn't have to be alone in this just because Riley is more 'fragile'. We all know that Riley has a more extensive network of people who would rush to her aid in times of trouble. Nobody in class wanted Maya during the Yearbook season, remember that? If anything, we should be the ones to care for her." Lucas felt like shouting now, and his voice rose higher.

"I said it once, and I'll say it again. Maya can handle almost anything that life throws at her alone. But we are her friends, our job is to make sure that she gets through life with a support system. You haven't been fulfilling your duty lately."

Lucas walked out of Topanga's, leaving Farkle and the argument.

* * *

The girls entered the science lab, bright and early. Maya groaned.

"Boo, this class." She complained as she looked around the room tiredly.

Riley looked over at her friend, amused. "Do you even know which one it is?" She asked humorously.

"I'm gonna need a clue." Maya replied.

Just then, Farkle came in, singing a tune.

Maya looked over at him and drew her own conclusion. "Science." She sighed.

Farkle walked on over to the professor, ready to start the day. He pretended not to notice Maya's extreme disinterest. It might make him pop a blood vessel.

"Morning, Farkle," the teacher greeted him. "What's new?"

Farkle grinned. "I'm reading this great book on anti-gravity. I can't put it down!"

The two laughed obnoxiously at the pun and joke rolled into one.

Maya smacked her lips together and rolled her eyes. "I hate this class." She sighed.

The professor ignored her and walked around the classroom. "Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to join me on a journey of discovery." He paused for an air of suspense. "Your midterm experiment."

The students groaned, with Maya being the loudest. Farkle gave out a "yay" as the kids stared at him. Maya looked over to Lucas, who was her lab partner. _And her soulmate._ She tried to make the situation less tense between them, and shut her eyes tiredly. "Do I look sleepy to you?"

The teacher continued. "In front of you, each team will find a beaker of a clear, liquid solution."

Maya had never heard of anything more boring in her life. "Oh boy," she said tiredly, "he's like a sleep machine."

The professor ignored her and grabbed a dark ball. "And next to that..." He paused once more for suspense. "And here's where it gets exciting... a mystery marble!"

The kids stared at the teacher stupidly as Maya decided that she was done. She dropped her head onto the table, fully expecting Lucas to catch her (which he did). "Good night!"

The teacher stared at her before continuing. "Right after school, precisely at 3:15, one member of each team will drop the marble into the beaker. The elements in the marble will break down over night and turn into sludge. Then, the other team member will discover what that sludge is and what it takes to turn the beaker back to clear."

"Who's supposed to do what?" Riley asked, not understanding why the responsibilities seemed so lopsided. One person dropped the ball and the other did all the work? That hardly seemed fair.

"Well, that's up to you. You're a team. Divide the responsibilities as you see fit. I've been conducting this experiment for 35 years. I've kept thorough notes. Very few have cracked it."

Farkle smiled to himself. "Well, you could add my name to your journal right now, sir."

The professor nodded. "I hope so, Farkle. Let the games begin!"

Across the room, Maya was still asleep. Lucas still had her head in his hand, and gently shook her awake. She was so beautiful and funny. He couldn't believe that Maya was his. Lucas quickly dismissed the jitters and directed his attention to the napping girl in his hand.

"Okay... You get that?" He asked her humorously.

"I have to do something?" Maya asked as she slumped in her chair.

Lucas nodded. "All you have to do is come in this afternoon and drop a marble." Lucas said, in an effort to make it as painless as possible. For him or for Maya, he didn't know.

"I have to drop a marble?" Maya asked incredulously.

"I will pick it up and hand it to you." Lucas offered as he showed the ball to Maya.

"I have to take it from you?" Maya grumbled.

"That's it!" Lucas said happily.

Maya wasn't done making trouble yet. "Well, how's my hand supposed to get to the beaker?"

Lucas recognized her tactic immediately and decided to play along. "You know what?" He said good-naturedly as he picked up the beaker. "Let's just move the beaker to the very edge of the desk, so you don't even have to lean forward!"

"I have to put this in that?" She asked once again.

"That's it!" Lucas repeated, hoping that she would go along this time.

Maya furrowed her forehead. "It's too much!" She whined.

Lucas just smiled helplessly.

* * *

"Okay, Riley, you drop the marble, I'll figure out the sludge, and earn us yet another 'A'." Farkle dictated the instructions to his lab assistant- he meant partner.

Riley felt something tug at her heartstrings. "Okay," she said. "That's all I have to do?"

"Well, I am the scientist around here," Farkle said as if that solved all of the problems. And in his mind, it did. The key to getting an "A" was in the solutions. He knew that Riley could _never_ figure out the solution on her own. It was unfortunate that the experiment was so lopsided, but the teacher's directions were the rules. Who was he to question them? That would undermine all the authority that Mr. Norton had worked for in his entire career! No, he needed to do the experiment to get an "A".

Riley wanted to participate. "Farkle, I don't understand," she shook her head. "Why can't I-"

"You do want an 'A,' don't you?" Farkle asked. He continued his plans for the experiment while Riley sat in her chair, pondering over why her heart felt so troubled, and her head so heavy.

* * *

"I don't like this." Riley said to Maya.

"I don't like this either," she agreed.

"Something's wrong." Riley postulated to her best friend. "Why do we have to drop the marble while Farkle and Lucas do the science?" She turned to her best friend.

Maya ignored Riley's problem. She had an even bigger one. "Why is school over and I don't got a chimichanga?" She asked.

Riley brushed away Maya's thoughts of food. "Maya, something's wrong," Riley furrowed her eyebrows and stared at thin air. "I feel like there's a real problem here, but I just can't see what it is yet."

The girls shrugged and walked into the science room to do their part of the experiment. Their classmates turned to welcome them in, and Riley's mind immediately cleared up.

"Now I see it," she said with an angry tone.

Maya shrugged and headed to her seat. "I see nothing unusual."

Riley stopped her. "Social injustice!" She said angrily.

Maya rolled her eyes. "Drop your marble and go." She didn't see the problem. There was no social injustice. She wasn't being deprived of anything- she didn't want to do the work!

Riley disagreed. "If you drop these marbles, you are buying into a system where the women, what?" She turned towards her fellow classmates. "Buy shoes? While the men learn the science."

The girls looked at each other in thought. One finally broke the silence to say what everyone else was thinking.

"Shoes."

"Let's go."

"The system _works._ "

One by one, the girls dropped their marbles in and left the room, probably to go to the mall. Riley watched all of them go in despair.

"No! Maya, I am very disappointed in our sisters." She said, as if she had the right and authority to be disappointed in them. "They don't believe we can do what the boys can do." Riley was very upset; her friend Maya was not.

Maya simply didn't buy it. It wasn't that they believed that they couldn't do what the boys did. It just was that nobody wanted to. Maya was very headstrong, if she wanted to, she would. Right now, she just wanted something to eat.

"Chi. Mi. Chan. Ga." Maya stipulated.

"You are not going to drop your marble," Riley ordered her best friend.

Maya laughed inwardly. To think that out of all people, _Riley_ was the one to make her do something. No way in... Well, you get the idea.

"Oh, I'm gonna drop my marble," she said, "but to make you feel better, I'm gonna drop it like a dude." She took the marble and began her play-by-play. "Maya takes the inbound pass. She dribbles down the court. Three seconds left on the clock. Her opponent's a tall, useless goose."

Riley was too scared to react and put her arms over her head.

"Maya fakes left, turns right..."

Riley finally had had enough. "Just stop! Tell me which way you're going!"

Maya lets her win, and decides to cut her game short. "She shoots... Scores! Nothing but beaker!" She turns towards Riley, and looks at her with anticipation. "Your turn, goose."

Riley looked at the marble in her hand. Was she going to succumb to the patriarchy that was Farkle Minkus?

* * *

Farkle was beyond excited for science class. Today was the day that he got to figure out what was in the goop and earn another "A"! He sang his way into the classroom and made it around to his desk. Suddenly, he saw his beaker. It was clear. Farkle's body couldn't handle the stress. What did Riley do? Did she upset him? It was her job to fulfill her end of the assignment! Not only did she undermine the teacher's authority, but she also let him down. Nope, his body couldn't take this. _I'm going down, sir,_ thought Farkle. _Oh,_ _he isn't even here._

Farkle awoke, dazed and confused. "Ah..." He muttered. "What happened? I don't get it. Science is my favorite time of day," he puzzled. "What happened? I'm gonna retrace my steps."

He made his way back to the door and went through his movements, singing the whole way there. His eyes caught the clear beaker again. "Ah... Oh," he realized. "That's the reason right there."

He fainted again.

* * *

When he came to, Riley stood above him and talked in a chipmunk-like voice. She appeared to be lecturing him. "It all started with Eve," she said. "Women have been treated as second-class citizens ever since. Thank goodness for strong women like Queen Elizabeth. Then Susan B. Anthony helped get women the vote, and then Betty Friedan wrote 'The Feminine Mystique'," she listed off women's accomplishments throughout the years and landed on herself. "And then Riley Matthews refused to drop the marble, and then here we are."

Farkle ignored her overuse of the word "then" and shook his head. "You had one job to do!"

"You mean, take care of the babies, Farkle?" Riley asked angrily.

Farkle's mind did a little spasm- he was sure that he killed hundreds of brain cells. "What? How long have I been out?"

Riley looked past his obviously shaken countenance and continued. "I'm taking a stand!" she said.

Farkle turned over to Maya, the sensible girl in the duet. "How could you let her do this?"

Maya just scoffed. "She's on a mission, Farkle. Have you met her?" She gestured over to Riley, who stood there like a girl with a problem.

Lucas was very concerned and decided to speak up. "Riley, you don't actually think Farkle had you drop the marble because you're a girl, do you?"

Riley stepped forwards to meet him. "We were all girls, Lucas." She waved her arms to indicate to all of the girls in the room. "Every single set of lab partners sent the girl," she said in an attempt to get Lucas and Farkle to see why she didn't fulfill her end of the assignment.

Lucas wanted to ask her why she didn't just ask Farkle for permission to do the experiment, but the professor decided to speak up just then.

"Yes. That's interesting, isn't it? What is that?" the professor asked the girl who cracked the code.

Farkle was having none of it. Riley could deal with her pseudo-feminism later. His GPA was on the line! "I'll tell you what it is," he told the teacher. "It's a redo. She failed. I didn't fail. I want a redo!" Farkle was getting desperate and decided to latch onto the teacher's leg. Desperate times call for desperate measures, apparently. "I want a redo, man!" Farkle begged helplessly.

The professor shook his head. "No redo. Equal responsibility," he pointed to the pair. "One shared grade."

Riley nodded in an air of superiority. "That's right. We should be equal," she stopped and looked on over to the rest of the class. "Why do you guys think we're the ones who should drop the marble while you figure out the science?"

Zay decided to speak up in an attempt to defend himself. "Hey, it's not like you guys begged us to do it," he turned towards his partner, Sarah. "Did you wanna do the science?"

The brunette just shrugged. "I was okay with you doing it," she confessed.

Riley rolled her eyes towards the ceiling desperately. "Sarah, how is that going to help us?" She turned towards the rest of the class again. "How are we going to become scientists if we don't learn this stuff?"

Sarah didn't understand why Riley was so worked up about this. She understood feminism, she really did. But she didn't understand why it involved her being a scientist. Couldn't she just be something else, like a mathematician or engineer? She decided to tell Riley. "So," she said. "I won't be a scientist."

Riley was getting worked up. "Why not?!" She looked at all of the girls. "Nobody wants to be the first girl on Mars?"

The class just stared at each other in silence. Back-of-the-class Brenda turned around comically and waved her hand energetically. She looked suspiciously like Farkle, but he insisted that he didn't have any twins.

Riley approved. "Represent, Brenda!" She was glad that at least one girl wanted to be a scientist, but she wanted _everyone_ to want to be a scientist as well. And have things go here way, incidentally.

"But one's not enough," she stated. "Bay window." she ordered the girls. "Bay window, all of you!"

The girls in the classroom stared at each other. Who was she to tell them what to do, even if she had been enlightened?

The boys just hoped that her anger would blow over by tomorrow.

* * *

"Tell 'em, Mommy!" Riley ordered her mom. "Get 'em! Tell them they're a disgrace to our entire whatever," she said obnoxiously. She couldn't believe that the girls didn't understand how important it was that the female gender was represented in the STEM areas of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Topanga smiled at the girls, wishing for a chance to apologize for her daughter's behavior. "Welcome to our home," she said warmly.

Riley frowned. Her mother wasn't going along with the plan! "No nice," she said. "Go for the kill!"

Topanga humored her daughter. "Unfortunately, Riley, this is a serious problem. The girls your age start to drift away from STEM subjects... science, technology, engineering, math. The research shows that we tend to play the roles we think we're supposed to," Topanga said as she neared the girls.

Maya wasn't having any of it. "Hey, I'm me."

"Yes, you are, you Amazon warrior," Topanga affirmed. "Have I told you how fond I am of you?"

Maya smiled. "Tell me."

"I am."

Riley broke up the affectionate moment in a jiffy. "She dropped her marble," she tattled as Topanga looked over to Maya, alarmed.

"Maya!"

Maya shrugged, not understanding. "What? I'm not trying to hurt the girl thing," she explained. "I'm just lazy."

The girls around her nodded. Maya wasn't sure if they were agreeing that they were also lazy, or if they thought that _she_ was lazy. If it was the latter, they needed to have a little talk.

Topanga shook her head. "You can't be lazy. And you cannot think that it is more important to be liked than it is to be leaders," she said as she focused her attention on all of the girls. "Don't talk yourself out of pursuing something because you're afraid of how it's going to make you look. What you need to know is don't let anybody get in the way of pursuing your growth and your curiosity, no matter what you want to do."

Maya laughed inwardly. She didn't need to be liked- everyone knew that. She always pursued what she wanted, even if people thought that she was crazy. And she never let anybody get in the way of her own growth andd curiosity. It just happened that her curiosity was in art, and not in science. Why couldn't they see that?

Sarah spoke up. "I wanna be the best I can, and I want everybody to like me, and I dropped the marble, and I want your shoes," she ended her little rant with a longing look towards Topanga's shoes.

Topanga just raised her eyebrows.

Sarah tried harder. "I wanna _work_ at the company that makes your shoes."

Topanga gestured once more, wanting Sarah to get the full gist of what they were trying to accomplish here. Feminine positions _everywhere,_ regardless of whether they actually wanted the position or not. It was all about getting female representation.

Sarah caught on. "I wanna _run_ the company that makes your shoes."

Topanga nodded. "Yes."

Sarah shared a tight-lipped smile and looked towards the floor, perturbed.

Riley spoke up. "Well, if we want it all, then we can't let other people do the work for us."

Not going to happen for Maya, otherwise known as the laziest girl in the universe. "Then I'm out!"

"You're in." Riley ordered.

Maya gave up. "I'm in. It's not gonna take long, is it?"

Riley shook her head, amused at Maya's annoyance. "The rest of our lives."

Topanga nodded admirably. "That's my girl."

Maya sulked. "Why's it always gotta be the rest of our lives?"

Topanga laughed. "And that's my other girl."

* * *

Cory walked into the classroom and noticed that the setup was extremely different. The desks were separated into two sides, and all of the girls sat on one side, determined to separate the two genders until they got what they wanted. Riley, of course, led the pack.

"Oh boy," he said nervously. "Where are the boys?"

At that exact moment, the boys filed in. Cory laughed, relieved.

"Boys! I'm very glad to see you, because I thought there was a distinct possibility you could be..." He looked around the room. "What's the word I'm looking for? Dead."

Lucas shook his head, slightly annoyed and very troubled. "We didn't do anything, and we don't deserve to be dead," he directed the last sentence at Riley, who just ignored him.

Zay continued forward and sat on Riley's desk. "Not understanding the current climate of the room, Zay chooses to sit here," he made himself comfortable. Zay had always been on good terms with Riley and Maya. And even Sarah- she certainly didn't want to drop the marble. _He had asked._ Zay could think of no reason why Riley should have been mad at him. He wasn't being sexist. He gave Sarah all the time in the world to do the work. He was sure that he was on Riley's good side.

"Men. Am I right?"

Riley growled. "Get out!"

Zay's eyes widened. "Now I get it!" He quickly moved to the other side of the room. All right, so this pseudo-feminism thing obviously garnered a ridiculous hate towards all boys.

"All right, does someone want to explain to me how we got here?" Cory asked the class.

Farkle began. "We were in science class..."

Maya stared him down and shut him up. "She will talk."

Farkle threw his hands up. "I will listen," he quickly surrendered before Riley could make up some excuse so that she could ignore him forever.

Cory decided to direct the kids back towards his lesson plan. One that he actually prepared in advance!

"Okay, guys, calm down. Now, today's lesson is about the Battle of Panipat," he said. Cory always got a slight tingle whenever he said the word "Panipat". He just liked the way that it sounded. He could repeat it for hours on end.

"There were three battles of Panipat. The first was called, the First Battle of Panipat."

Riley interrupted her father. "You don't respect us," she accused Farkle.

Lucas spoke up. "How can you possibly think that?" After everything that they'd been through together, she had the nerve to say that they didn't respect her?

Riley pointed towards Farkle. "I call Farkle Minkus to the stand," she ordered.

Lucas had had enough. "You can't put him on trial, Riley."

Riley shrugged nonchalantly. "Why not? Didn't he make a judgment about me?"

Lucas could see that it was no use and decided to back down. "We are really unprepared," he explained.

Zay agreed. "Yeah. See ya, buddy."

The pair sat down and Riley began her speech once more.

"This isn't just about Farkle. This is about all of you."

"Yeah, Lucas," Maya said. "Didn't you tell me to drop the marble?"

Lucas nodded, not believing that Maya was buying into this, too. "Yeah, I wanted us to do well on the midterm."

Maya slammed her hands into her desk and stood up, furious. "Because you have no faith in my scientific abilities!"

Lucas couldn't believe it. She had demonstrated _all year_ that she didn't want to do it. He knew that she wouldn't do _anything_ if he had left the mid-term in her hands.

"Because you fall asleep in my hand!" He yelled back.

Yarby spoke up. "Yogi made me drop the marble, too."

Yogi decided that it was time to defend himself. "I can't reach the beaker," he explained.

Yarby scoffed. "I could have lifted you."

"I don't like that as much as you think." Who wanted to be picked up and shoved around by a girl?

Yarby gasped.

Cory cut in, trying to get back to the lesson plan that he had so painstakingly prepared the day before. "I'll tell ya who didn't like something. Vikramajit, the ruler of Gwalior in the First Battle of Panipat. He died." Cory emphasized. "Didn't like it."

Riley interrupted her father once more. "By relegating me to a second-class marble dropper, you are stopping me from realizing my full potential."

Farkle was confused. "Riley, I'm just better than you at this." The experiment, though unfortunate, had given two distinct positions. The person _who was right for the job_ should have gotten that position! Right?

Riley was unable to take no for an answer. "Farkle, if you were my friend, you would want me to get better. I like science. Why don't you want me to get better?"

"I do. There's no situation where I wouldn't want that for you," Farkle said. His own thought process had been that it would have been better for them to just have gotten an "A". He hadn't realized that Riley cared so much about science; she had never told him.

"Riley, I've always been your friend," he said, in an attempt to bring her back down to Earth and recognize that he didn't meant to perpetuate a sexist standpoint. If anything, it was a genius vs. commoner standpoint.

Riley's eyebrows furrowed together. "I know."

"I'm sorry," Farkle apologized. He realized the problem now.

It wasn't about the sexism, or the fact that Riley had deliberately separated all of the boys and girls. It was about the friendship. He should have helped her get better, even if only one person was allowed to work on the sludge. It was his job to make sure that his friend succeeded in life, and it was also his job to understand the little things that Riley was hiding: like the fact that she apparently enjoyed science _so much_ that she was willing to call him to the witness stand.

Zay couldn't take it anymore. "Okay. I thought some of you just didn't want anything to do with science," he said. Zay directed his attention towards his partner. "Sarah, you just told me you weren't interested."

Sarah slammed her hands against the desk and stood up. "It's because I don't stand up for myself!" she yelled at her partner.

Zay was terrified and confused at the same time. How was it _his_ fault that she didn't stand up for herself? Was he supposed to guide her along every step of the way to make sure she got what she wanted without being trampled on by the people who wanted it more?

That could wait later. He didn't want to deal with the wrath of the girl who looked suspiciously like the other spitfire in the room- Maya.

"Well, I'm gonna hate to see it when you do."

Yarby spoke up, directing her energy towards her boyfriend. "I wanna carry you around like a doll whenever I want." Apparently to her, that spelled out female empowerment. The dis-empowerment of her boyfriend.

At least he didn't seem to mind. "Do it."

The class stared at each other in confusion.

Farkle finally broke the silence. It wasn't really about sexism, not in their case. It was about friendship, and his responsibilities as a good friend.

"A real friend doesn't let another friend fail. Our failure isn't your fault, Riley. Our failure is on me. I should have had more faith in you." Deep down, in the corner of Farkle Township, he could hear a voice whispering about how faith really wasn't going to get them an "A"- hard work did. He decided to push it down for Riley's sake.

Cory spoke up. "Speaking of failure, there will be a quiz tomorrow on the First Battle of Panipat." He sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. "It's not gonna be a good day."

* * *

Back in the science lab, Zay was trying to kill time. "Mud-like consistency, copper color, no clear separation of elements at boiling point. No living organisms. Huh. Well, my official conclusion after thorough research and analysis, and try to stay with me now, 'cause this is very technical..."

Lucas laughed lightly. "Yeah, how long you gonna keep talking?"

"'Till the bell rings, 'cause I don't know what this stuff is," Zay said as he poked around the sludge.

Lucas pointed towards Maya's sludge. "Yeah, uh, you know what that is?"

"How'd she get her sludge to do that?"

"Her sludge is mad at us."

"Her sludge is a girl. Something's wrong here," Farkle said.

Riley glared at him. "What's wrong here is that you're a _sexist pig_ _,_ " she spat at Farkle.

He decided to play along. "Why would you say that, mamacita?"

Riley ignored his little attempt at bantering. "You really think I couldn't do the science because I'm a girl?"

Farkle sighed, annoyed at how worked up she was over this little thing. "Riley, Marie Curie was one of the finest scientific minds who ever lived. Science needs the best minds it can get. What do I care what body it's in?"

Riley decided to drop the subject, now that her argument seemed relatively weak. "Well, what do you think is wrong?"

Farkle was extremely glad that Riley decided to move past the issue. In an effort to get an "A", he had done some extra research. "Well, I took our sludge ball home last night, and you know what I found? It's a dirt ball, Riley. The sludge is... Sludge. It's mud. That's all it is." Farkle shook his head as he placed the dirt ball back on the table. It wasn't a huge scientific experiment. Anyone could have gotten it. "I don't understand why this experiment's such a big deal."

Riley smiled slightly. "I think I do." She turned towards her friend. What if the experiment isn't about the sludge at all? There's a lot of layers to experiments, right?"

Farkle agreed. "Well, there's what's going on on the surface..."

Riley interrupted him. "And what's going on that you don't see. So what's going on here?"

* * *

Maya turned around, dressed in mock-Indian garb and raised her hands above her head. "Bring me the first sacrifice!"

The girls chanted in fake, made-up gibberish and held Yogi over their heads.

Riley directed her attention towards the human sacrifice that was just about to happen. "Farkle, this isn't the experiment."

He was extremely confused by now. "It isn't?"

"No, that is!" She pointed towards the human sacrifice, Yogi.

She called the professor over in a hurry.

"Mr. Norton!"

"Riley, Farkle," he greeted them warmly.

"We have a new hypothesis." She said. "There's more to this experiment than you've been telling us."

The professor nodded. "Interesting. Riley, care to elaborate?"

She smiled sweetly. "Yes, but first, I have to go save a life." She directed her attention over to her friend. "Maya, you don't have to sacrifice Yogi. We found a solution."

Maya's heart ached a little on the inside. She actually really wanted to sacrifice Yogi. "Tell me after we sacrifice Yogi," she compromised.

The girls chanted "Goodbye Yogi! Goodbye Yogi! Goodbye Yogi!"

Riley was confused. "Maya, why do we have to sacrifice Yogi?"

Maya thought the answer was obvious. "Do you got a chimichanga?"

"No," answered Riley.

The answer was now crystal clear.

"Then cover the boy in cheese!"

The girls began chanting again."Cheesy Yogi! Cheesy Yogi! Cheesy Yogi!"

Farkle pointed the class's attention to Maya's volcano. "Ladies, your volcano looks angry. Whuh-oh. Goggles on!" He quickly directly the girls what to do and jumped under the desks.

The girls weren't as quick thinking as the boys and failed to do so, resulting in faces splattered in mud.

Farkle laughed weakly. "And dive under your desks. Did I not mention that?"

Riley and Maya each grabbed a beaker and threw the sludge onto him.

He sputtered a little bit. "Yeah, I should've mentioned that."

* * *

Maya smiled happily. Quite devilishly, also. "I like blowing stuff up."

Riley rolled her eyes playfully. "It's not about that."

"What's it about?"

"This is all about us and the boys. Who we are now, and who we want to be."

Maya growled. "Everything's their fault. Stupid boys. Everything would have been fine if I could've just sacrificed Yogi. Stupid Yogi," she muttered.

Riley laughed gently. "Well, you can't," she turned towards her best friend. "Maya, our guy friends are pretty great. Maybe it used to be easier to see that before we looked at each other as boys and girls. Maybe it was easier when we looked at each other as friends."

Maya was confused. Wasn't Riley the one who demanded that the kids be separated by gender, and that the boys were sexist because they did all of the science even though all the girls let them?

Maya spoke very slowly. "Riley," Maya said. "If I can't blow stuff up or sacrifice Yogi, then I just don't care about being good in science." She honestly didn't. She liked art, and music, and even poetry. But science wasn't in her area of "liking".

"Well, you have to," Riley gently chastised. "We all have to. The stuff we're learning now, science and math, it matters that we know what they are. We can't let other people think we'd rather have it easy for us."

Maya sputtered. "N... no, I want things to be easy for me."

Riley shook her head maturely. "No, you don't. Because then you won't know anything, and you won't have as many choices later."

Maya laughed a little. That made more sense than anything that Riley had been saying all week. Learning this stuff kept her options open in case she wanted to pursue a degree in science.

"You think I could be a scientist?"

"I think if you were a scientist," Riley said, "the world would be a very dangerous place."

Maya was very happy now. "Awesome."

"But," Riley continued. "If you don't believe you could become a scientist, then it's even more dangerous."

* * *

"Still working on that?" Farkle asked.

Lucas shrugged. "We're never gonna figure out what this stuff is. It might as well just be dirt."

"Yeah. You know what?" Farkle asked his friends. "It doesn't matter what it is."

Lucas scoffed inwardly. "Hey, you might've failed this experiment, but we don't want to."

Farkle shook his head. "I'm not gonna fail it. My partner's got this," he said proudly. He failed to mention that the science experiment was actually a _social science_ experiment, one that actually relied on the data of people's reactions, and not the hard science. He also failed to mention that if this was the case, tens of classes had been screwed over in their mid-term.

Riley came in, and in a gesture of forgiveness, decided to talk to the boys.

"Hi, guys."

Lucas felt like punching a wall, laughing, and crying helplessly at the same time. "Oh, you're talking to us?" After all this time, she could just pretend that she didn't _completely_ cut them off for something they didn't even purposely do?

Maya nodded. "She is. I go where she goes."

Riley turned over to Farkle. "You tell them yet, Farkle?"

He shook his head. "Nope. This is your marble to drop."

The pair sat down as Lucas headed over to his seat.

"Yeah, I was waiting for you, partner," he said as he patted the stool next to him.

Maya pointed at it in disbelief. "Did you just pat for me to sit down?"

Lucas was in deep water now. "No," he denied. "No, no, no, no. I was just patting for a better place for me to sit."

Maya decided to let it slide and sat down with a smile on her face. Adorable and dorky- those were the words that she'd describe Lucas with. Not to mention that he was strong and compassionate, and-. She cut herself off before it got too far. _That's stupid,_ thought Maya. _It has already gotten too far. My wrist would agree with me._

"Yeah," Zay said. "They're all here. They came to cook us up in these little beakers and eat us and talk about us, and I don't like being talked about." He said as he looked pointedly at his partner, Sarah.

"We don't either, but we're gonna be the best thing we can be no matter what anybody says," she replied a little passive-aggressively, as if the boys had ever said that the girls couldn't do science.

Riley nodded proudly at her little prodigy. "That's right, Sarah. This is an experiment none of us should fail. And it's one of the most important ones we'll ever do."

The professor then came in, and looked around the classroom.

"Well, we seem to have settled back into our original positions," he said as he turned towards Riley and Farkle. "Riley, Farkle, I believe just before things exploded, you were about to present some findings?"

Riley was excited now. This was her moment to _shine_ and prove to the world that they were being "sexist pigs", as she had called her best friends earlier in the week.

"In middle school, girls tend to drift away from science," she stated. "Isn't that right, Mr. Norton?"

He nodded. "It's been happening so many years, I started to keep a record. Not many figure out my experiment, but those that do have always benefited from the lesson."

Riley spoke up. "We let what happened in here come between us. It's sludge, and it muddies up what we think about each other. All of us have unlimited potential. Farkle and me, well... our beaker is clear."

"Because Riley didn't drop the marble," Farkle said.

"Why not, Riley?" Mr. Norton asked, puzzled. In the past, kids have figured out the experiment and did other things. One year, they shared the responsibilities. The other time, the boy had let the girl figure out the sludge. Never once had the girl purposely not fulfilled her duties. In this classroom, it was permissible. But in another classroom, maybe in a science competition, she would have been disqualified for purposely failing her team.

Riley smiled a little. "I felt like if I did, I would lose a part of me that was valuable. I like science, and I like figuring stuff out." She felt that she should have had the privilege of doing the hard part of science, just because she was a girl.

Mr. Norton walked around the classroom and continued his analysis. "For 35 years, I've been running this experiment. Every year, the vast majority of girls agree to drop the marble without even thinking about it. The boys do the science." He looked around the room. "Unfortunate, but true. This is the age the girls begin to lose interest and that is a bad result."

Maya's eyebrows lifted in a sense of realization. "So the real experiment is us."

"It is, Maya. Don't lose interest," the professor said to her.

She shook her head and smiled. No, she wouldn't lose interest. "Wide awake, sir."

The professor continued. "All right," he said. "Everyone lift up your beakers."

The class complied. Riley and Farkle held theirs up, as did Maya and Lucas.

"Now look through them," Mr. Norton instructed the class.

Lucas's eyebrows furrowed. "I can't see you,"

Maya mimicked his actions. "Yeah," she agreed. "All this stuff is in the way," she said. Maya meant the dirt, but she could think of another thing that was separating her and Lucas right now...

Mr. Norton continued his lecture. "It is beneficial for young men and women to realize right now the value of working together as equals in all things, because when you do, the results are... Clear." The professor patted himself on the back for the nice allegory.

The class didn't seem to notice.

Farkle smiled at Riley through the water. "Nice job, partner," he commended.

Riley was very glad that she forgave Farkle for being sexist, and decided to forget every wrong that he had done in the past few days.

"Partner," she affirmed.

In the history classroom, Mr. Matthews and Mr. Norton were having their weekly chit-chat.

"So, did you do the marble thing again?" Mr. Matthews asked the science teacher.

"Yeah," he said. "You do the 'make history like their lives' thing again?" He asked back.

Mr. Matthews lifted his hands up apologetically. "It's all I got."

Mr. Norton laughed. "You also got yourself quite a daughter," he said proudly.

Cory was extremely touched. "Thank you," he said.

The girls appeared in the doorway.

Riley interrupted the conversation. "Hi, Daddy."

Her father smiled at her. "Girls. To what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?"

Riley was very proud of the little scheme that she had come up with. "We thought we'd keep you company on your walk home."

Cory nodded. "That's very nice of you. Are you out of pizza money?"

Riley shook her head. "No, we're paying for you this time." She turned towards the science professor. "You too, Mr. Norton."

"Really?" He asked, to which the girls nodded happily. "Thanks!"

Cory was confused. "Wait, wait, wait."

The girls looked over to him, anticipating his reaction.

"Since when do you two pay?" He was their father, it was his _job_ to take care of them until they "fled the coop", so to speak.

Maya decided to take the reins. "Since men and women are equal."

Riley corroborated his friend's argument. "We're big-time feminists now."

Cory laughed, not entirely sure they got the _whole message_ of feminism, but this was a pretty good start. He might have to teach them the hierarchy of the family before they decided that being "feminists" meant speaking your mind and talking back to authority.

"Good for you," he commended the girls. "Where'd you learn that?"

"Science class," Riley said.

"Of course." Mr. Matthews said knowingly.

"Yeah," Mr. Norton replied.

"This school is pretty messed up."


	7. Integral Author's Note

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: To all the Nay-Sayers**

 _(please sign in so I can reply to you specifically. It makes it harder to function as a "community".)_

 **-This episode took way longer than my own writing** , because I had to write in enough commentary so that the dialogue didn't look choppy. If you can read it objectively, you will see that it had way more dialogue. I had a harder time connecting the story.

- **While I write for the readers, I also write for myself.** This was a little exercise in my transitions and descriptions- something to make me challenge myself when I no longer have control of the dialogue. I also had to write their feelings and thoughts to lead INTO the dialogue. This was a little study piece for me, and was very valuable to my own writing experience.

 **-It is extremely rude to say that it was a "cop-out" just because you didn't like the chapter or how it was written**. This took at least twice the amount of effort and time than usual. Please put some thought into how your words are being said when you don't know the whole story.

 **The fact that you didn't like it doesn't diminish my work ethic and the amount of time I put into it. It's not a cop-out. Just say you didn't like it as much!**

- **Farkle's part in the beginning** resonated with me, especially because GM New Year's. The way that he betrayed Riley, and the way that he _LEFT WITH SMACKLE AFTER SAYING THAT HE WAS RIGHT_ seemed exactly like what he would do. Oh, right, that's because he did do that. Let's face it: he was a jerk. In this universe, I could easily imagine the same thing happening, esp. because he's still young and probably doesn't understand what it means to be alone yet.

 **Some of his lines were said because he didn't understand what it truly meant to be alone in life**. He's still young, cut him some slack. How many of you were angry at Riley for putting down Maya when she herself needed an emotional boost? "Everyone loves your problems! You're a mess!" This is the same thing that is happening now.

 **-The re-writing of the episode was also so that people could see the characters' lines written out.** Many people have been saying that I demonized Riley, but this was to prove that I didn't. The way that she took control of the situation, the way that she wanted her mom to say that they were a disgrace- all of this demonstrated the superiority and "Riley-ness" that people accused me of fabricating. Except this time, I made up no dialogue. It was really her.

- **Just because you didn't like the chapter, doesn't mean it wasn't one.** Events that happened in this chapter will be referenced to in the future. How would I reference them if they never happened?

- **Read a real book. Not all chapters develop the story.** This was meant to rehash the characters on paper so that their development stayed true to the show. I got a chance to write and read their REAL dialogue, and I got a better feel for the characters. Example: Maya is much lazier than I thought she was, and Riley was much more aggressive.

 **-If you already read Book 1 of the series, and Book 2 detailed some of the events again, would you act the same way?** The "theories" and "cop-outs" that _Rebecca_ pointed out are in the story to set up the world so events don't feel so sudden when they finally happened.

 **This was never intended to be a "fan-fiction book", one with no character development and all action.** It is not going to be a fast, easy read. Characters will be given entire passages to think things over- read any real book and see what I mean. A lot of readers online are lazy and don't like **"fillers"**. What you don't understand is that us authors still work EQUALLY AS HARD on these, if not more. Diminishing their value like that is extremely rude.

- **I allow all reviews through because I don't want to regulate free speech.** But I enjoy it more if you sign in. I have no way of guaranteeing this will reach the intended audience. Being able to reply to you eases my stress levels.

If you couldn't tell already, I am slightly annoyed. To say that my work was a "cop-out", implying that I used it so I could just upload a chapter, is SO RUDE. To say that it wasn't a "real chapter" is just as rude.

 **IN SHORT:** This chapter was important. It helped my own writing to _stay in character_ , it _developed_ the world, it gave Riley her "show voice" so _people couldn't accuse me of demonizing her_ , it gave me _events to reference later,_ and it was a way to tie the show into the story to _maintain semi-realness_. **You can dislike it for all I care, but please don't dismiss the importance of this chapter, and definitely don't disrespect how hard I worked on something because you felt like it was a cop-out.**


	8. Fro-Yo Break

Lucas and Maya waited outside of the school patiently. Farkle and Riley were doing some things for the teachers and they were all going out for frozen yogurt afterwards. The pair stood some five feet apart and ignored each other. Maya bit her lip nervously and smoothed her hair back with her hands. Lucas tucked his hands into his jeans and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet.

Both stayed silent.

Maya wanted to ask Lucas if his tattoo said her name. Farkle said that he had already gotten his tattoo, right? If it wasn't her, then who could it be? If his tattoo wasn't _Maya,_ then who could the _Lucas_ on her wrist be? The two had acted quite nicely to each other during the whole STEM debacle. He seemed to have gotten pretty relaxed, and even teased her a bit like he used to do in the old days. Since then, they had relaxed into a nice rhythm around their friends. They acted cordial and nice to each other, and when Riley got too suspicious, they goofed off a bit, too.

It was a whole different story when they were alone together.

It happened a whole lot more than one would think. Farkle and Riley always had some activity to do, being the over-achievers that they were. Yearbook committee, STEM research, reading, volunteering- those things took up a lot of the pair's time. Farkle gave Riley tutoring lessons in science at least three times a week. Riley was busy trying to get the school committee to allow sororities on campus. Her experience at NYU still hadn't left her. Lucas, on the other hand, was pretty devoted to his football team. He wanted to make the high school team when the time came, and working hard now was the only way he was going to get it. Maya, as always, played around with art. Riley had been too busy with school to take some nice pictures, so she lent the camera that Shawn gave her to Maya. During the days that Maya's mom worked, she would traipse around New York City, taking in the sites and looking for beauty in unexpected places.

This activity had gone unnoticed for a while, until one day, Katy returned from work early and noticed that Maya wasn't home. After a freak attack and numerous calls to Maya's cell, Katy mandated that Maya bring a friend to all of her escapades. Riley volunteered to help, bless her soul, but Riley was getting very little sleep these days and Maya didn't want to risk Riley's health. Farkle didn't bother volunteering. The pair had a sort of telepathic relationship; Maya knew that it was fruitless to ask Farkle to tag along for a walk around New York City, and Farkle knew that it was hopeless to ask Maya to become an engineer. The two were close, despite their differences.

The only person left was Lucas. Maya knew that he would say yes within a heartbeat, but she dreaded asking him. It made the whole dynamic between them a whole lot more complicated. Forgetting Lucas seemed better than whatever they had now. Actually spending time together outside of school would make everything worse.

But Maya wanted to take pictures and go through New York like a woman on a mission. To do that, she needed a chaperone. How ironic. But, who better to be a guard than the buff guy that she called "Huckleberry"?

As predicted, Lucas said "yes" immediately. The day was bright and sunny, and the group was walking through the park. Riley and Farkle ran up ahead when they saw the lake- they wanted to collect algae samples for the lab.

The pair stayed behind, and Maya gathered up her courage.

"Hey, Lucas," she said nervously. "Would you mind accompanying me into the city once in a while to take pictures?"

The boy snapped his head over to Maya and looked at her quizzically.

She continued on in a hurry.

"I have been taking pictures, you know, with Riley's camera, and my mom said that I couldn't go into the city alone. Something about me being a girl and New York being really dangerous for girls who are alone. Riley and Farkle are both too busy, so I was wondering if you would do it," Maya finished her ramble quickly and closed her eyes in anticipation. Would he say yes? Or would he blow her off? Knowing him, he would say yes. But one could never know until the moment actually happened.

Lucas's face broke out into a huge smile. "Of course I will!" he exclaimed. "Let me tell you, Maya," he said as the pair rounded the corner and headed towards the lake. "It is an honor for you to even consider me. I actually get to see you in action! This is so exciting," Lucas stretched his arms up and stared at the sky. The color was very beautiful; he bet that Maya could recreate it on a canvas.

Maya shrugged. "I'm not looking for handouts, you know. If you don't want to, I can ask someone else." Growing up poor did a number on Maya's pride. She was very hesitant to accept donations, especially when people did it because they pitied her. Shawn and Riley were the only people that she trusted to not do so- that's why she accepted the clothes and Riley's companionship. Lucas, on the other hand, was completely different. He was relatively well-off, and lived a life of stability, in spite of the whole Texas stuff of honor and bull-riding.

Lucas shook his head. "No, I want to do this! I want to support you and all of your artistic endeavors," he said as the pair neared Riley and Farkle.

Maya looked over at the boy. "Thanks," she said quietly. "I really do appreciate it."

Lucas smiled. "I know you do," he said as he slung an arm over Maya's shoulders. "The whole world is your playground, cliché as it might sound. And I'm just here for the ride," he declared.

Lucas's little speech sealed the deal for Maya, who felt like her heartbeat was getting broadcasted through a stereo. Ever since then, the two spent Friday afternoons on walks into the city. She took pictures of cars, peoples, subways, and even the occasional food stand. Sometimes, Maya did random modeling sessions with Lucas, and she would look for brick walls to position him against. One time, he even did a session of her. She kept the pictures in a little box that locked; Lucas bought it for her when she saw it in a vintage shop one day.

This all happened weeks before their tattoos came in. When it happened, Maya freaked out a little bit. She didn't know if their sacred tradition would be continued. She didn't know if she would even be comfortable around him. But both kids ignored their tattoos and went about their schedules. With the science mid-term and life getting in the way, they carried on as they always had. During Fridays, they acted like their normal selves. Maya would joke and laugh with Lucas. In turn, Lucas would often bring a step-stool so that she could have better angles to take photos from. Their previous relationship, before everything got weird in 8th grade, seemed to return. Many people actually thought their flirty bantering signified a relationship, and more often than not, people would stop and tell them what a cute couple they were.

Those moments were one in a million, though. Times when they lost sight of who they were and what problems encased their entire relationship. Those moments were moments that made Maya feel truly _free,_ without all the baggage of her life weighing her down. Every week, she looked forward to the Friday afternoons that included just her and Lucas. Though she loved Riley, their whole dynamic was off when it included her. Nobody knew how far was too far, and nobody knew what to say or how to act. Everything was just a lot easier when it was the two of them.

Obviously, the atmosphere wasn't too great right now. The pair stood, waiting for Riley and Farkle, and they didn't know how to act. Was it a good time to break character and goof off for a bit? Or was it best to stay just as they were?

The question didn't need answering because just then, Riley and Farkle ran out of the school and panted heavily.

"We're here, guys," Riley said as she struggled to catch her breath. "Let's go!" She quickly straightened up and pointed her arm towards the fro-yo shop. "To the fro-yo!"

Farkle put his hands on his knees and bent over, coughing a little. "Wait a minute," he said as he tried to regain his composure. "We all know that I'm no athlete. I am going to need a little bit of time to recharge," Farkle heaved up and down, trying to get his heartbeat back to normal.

The group stared at him comically.

"Oh please," Maya said as she hoisted Farkle onto her shoulder. "You can handle a five-minute walk to the store."

Farkle wrapped his arms around his shoulders and walked with her. "I can do that, true," he admitted as the group began their journey. "But does anyone else find it weird how truly unathletic I am? The average person can at least get one basket out of ten- probability is even working against me!"

Riley took his other shoulder, and the girls walked him over to the store like he was an injured boy- and not one who couldn't run through the school without needing an ambulance.

"Oh Farkle," she said. "You can't be good at everything, right?"

Farkle sighed. "I guess not."

"That's my good genius," Riley replied proudly. "Here, I'll even buy you fro-yo."

Farkle smiled. "It's the least you could do," he said.

Riley rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh, shut up," she said as the group walked into the frozen yogurt shop.

Lucas came up behind Maya. "Do you want me to buy you something?"

Maya jumped and scooted forwards, away from Lucas. "N-n-no," she stammered. "I can buy my own stuff," she said. Maya was never one for handouts, even if it came from Mr. Perfect.

"I know you can," Lucas conceded. "But I want to buy it for you. You want mint chocolate chip?" Lucas asked as he pulled some fives out of his pocket.

Maya deflated. "Sure," she said.

Lucas smiled. "That's a good artist!"

The group purchased their food and settled down at a table. The fro-yo shop was a common middle-school hangout, and many of their friends were there, too. Yindra from art class motioned Maya over to her table. Maya got up and went over to Yindra. The two discussed some of their ideas for a piece that they were collaborating on in art. Pretty soon, the two girls were engaged in a lively discussion about paints and mixed media.

A brunette walked on over to the empty seat, and gestured to it. "Is this seat taken?" she asked sweetly.

Riley looked over to Maya. "Hey, Maya!" She yelled. "Can we borrow your seat for a second?"

Maya gave the thumbs up and returned to her conversation with Yindra, who now pulled out some swatches of paint. Maya shouted a great "Hurrah!" as they found the color that they wanted.

Riley smiled, embarrassed. "It's all yours," she said as the girl sat down happily.

"Great! My name's Annie," she introduced herself. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Annie was conventionally pretty, like Riley and Maya. She had good looks, but they didn't differ much from the others. What really separated her from the others was the permanent smile on her face. It stretched from ear to ear, and even made Riley a little comfortable. Who could smile so much, and so wide?

Farkle nodded. "Hi, Annie. I'm Farkle, and this Riley and Lucas. The blonde over there is named Maya."

The group smiled at her uncomfortably. They normally didn't associate with a lot of other people, especially ones that they didn't know. Riley had never seen this Annie chick before. Maybe she was in another class at the school? Riley didn't know. All she knew was that the smile that Annie was sporting had now been on her face for a solid minute- it looked fake.

The girl automatically directed her attention towards Lucas. Riley's eyes widened. _Stranger danger!_

"Hi, Lucas," she said sweetly. "How come I've never seen you around before? You do go to John Quincy Adams, right?"

Lucas shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "Yeah, I do. So do my friends," he gestured towards the others in an effort to include them in the conversation. He didn't like girls giving him their attention. It made him feel weird, and like a freak. Including his friends in the conversation would hopefully direct the conversation to less... _dangerous_ places.

Riley and Farkle just smiled at each other deviously and got up.

"We'll leave you two alone," Riley said as she led Farkle away hurriedly. Sure, she was still holding out for her tween-aged crush, but who didn't like to torture a poor boy? She giggled and quickly joined Maya and Yindra's table. "Guess what, guys?" she asked. "Something amazing just happened!"

"What did you do now?" Maya asked.

"I left Lucas alone with that new girl over there," she replied.

Farkle shrugged. "She was dragging me out of there before I could figure out what was going on. I'm just eating my fro-yo and going along with the plan."

Maya's eyes widened. "I thought you wanted Lucas as your soulmate! What are you doing, pushing him over to her like that?"

Riley flapped her hand nonchalantly. "If he was my soulmate, I think that the universe would have already determined this. One new girl isn't going to change anything. And," she continued, "if he isn't, then I am certainly not going to destroy his life in the process."

Maya's eyebrows lifted in a sense of wonder. "Well, that's certainly new for you," she remarked.

Riley nodded proudly. "Yup! I'm doing this new thing that I like to call, 'letting life takes its course'. Why mess up my life and his if it doesn't bring us any good? I'm done manipulating things just so that I can live up to my Corpanga standards. After all, it nearly tore us apart." She said sadly.

Maya placed her hand over Riley's. "Almost," she said. "But not quite."

Riley looked up at her best friend, confused.

"You're still here! I'm still here. Farkle, bless his scientific mind, is still here."

Farkle lifted his finger and nodded. "I have no idea what is going on."

Maya continued. "And we are all going to mess up a little in the process. But a true friend stays when you are still working things out. And I am your true friend," she said with a smile.

Riley's face exploded into a giant grin. If people could produce sparkles, Riley would have been at that very moment. "Oh, peaches!" She pulled Maya into a great big hug and squeezed her tight. "I want this to never change," she said.

Maya agreed. "It won't," she said. Maya released Riley gently and looked on over to Lucas, who was trying to smile but ended up looking like he ate some bad fro-yo. "If you don't mind, I think it's time to save our cowboy over there."

Riley pushed Maya up from her seat. "Go get 'em, you fierce Amazon warrior!"

Maya patted Riley's head absent-mindedly. "Okay, you over-excited princess," she said.

Riley smiled. "That's me!"

Maya grinned in return and then looked over to Lucas and the brunette. She worked up her courage, took in a deep breath, and walked on over.

"Hi," she said with a sickly sweet tone. "Who are you?"

The girl managed a smile at the intruder. "I'm Annie. And who are you?" Annie glanced over Maya's outfit and rolled her eyes.

Maya gritted her teeth and forced an equally dazzling smile onto her face. "I'm Maya. One of Lucas's best friends," she said.

Lucas laughed nervously and pulled Maya down into the chair next to him. "Yes she is! My very best friend," he said as he scratched his head. What did he say next?

"Oh, well, I was just telling your _best friend_ over here that the 8th grade graduation dance was coming up soon. I was wondering if he would like to go with me," Annie said with a smile too sugary to be sincere.

Maya's eyes widened as she turned over to Lucas. He just grimaced in response. What did she expect him to do? Say no? Well, he could, but he didn't really know how to turn down a girl. His relationship with Riley signaled that perfectly. He had let her _sniff_ his hair when they first met. Who does that?

Lucas cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, see... I was planning on going with a group of friends," he gestured towards Maya and Riley, who had joined their cluster a few moments ago. "If you don't mind going as friends, and with the whole gang, we wouldn't mind you coming either," he finished quickly.

Riley smiled. "Hi," she said to the girl. "I'm Riley. What's your name?"

The girl scowled at her. "Don't play sweet with me, little Miss Sunshine. I'm Annie, and I am _out of here,_ " Annie said as she flounced out of the shop.

Maya stuck her tongue out. "Good riddance!"

Riley copied suit. "Let the door hit you on the way out!"

Maya grimaced slightly and patted Riley's head. "The saying is 'Don't let the door hit you on the way out', but good try," she said.

Riley just beamed.

Lucas spoke up again. "So, as I was saying, I was hoping to go with the two of you. I would invite Farkle, but he is already with Smackle."

"For the rest of his life," Maya said with wide eyes.

"Geez," Riley said. "That is kind of scary to think about, isn't it? He already knows who he is going to marry! Why don't they just throw a ceremony now!"

Lucas laughed. "They're still going to go through life normally, just as I imagine the people did before these tattoos. It's just that they will always know who they were meant to be with."

Riley smiled. "I know that I'm meant to be with a guy that has five letters in his name. What about you, Maya?"

Maya gulped slightly. "Same, Riles," she responded. "Huckleberry," she said. "What's yours?"

Lucas stammered. "Uh, four letters. That's it."

Riley's eyebrows furrowed. Okay, so it wasn't her. She would have to deal with her broken heart later. But there was something wrong with this situation. What was it?

"Aha!" Riley exclaimed. "Farkle said that you already got your tattoo in. _All of it,_ " she said triumphantly. "Let's see!"

Lucas quickly snatched his arm away. He tried to resist the urge to look at Maya, but couldn't. He found that she was already looking at him quite intently.

The pair quickly looked away from each other.

Riley sighed, completely oblivious. "I guess you don't have to tell me," she said. "But I do expect an answer soon, Lucas. In the meantime, we all know that the girl isn't going to be me. I won't ever have my Corpanga story. I shall go home and weep," the girl packed up her things and somberly looked towards the exit.

Maya laughed. "Well, wherever you go, I'll go with you."

Riley smiled. "I know you will. And hey, I can finally say yes to that guy who asked me a couple days ago."

Maya gave her a thumbs up. "He's quite the looker," she affirmed.

Riley raised her eyebrows comically. "And his name has five letters!"

Maya threw her hands up in the air. "And five letters! Everything's working out perfectly! What could go wrong now?"


	9. Break-down

After saying goodbye to Maya and the boys, Riley ran up to her apartment and shut the door loudly. She ripped off her coat in anger and threw her boots to the ground. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes as she dumped her backpack from her shoulders and went to her room.

Quickly changing into sweats and a t-shirt, Riley pulled out her diary and began writing. When all else failed, she often turned to the small, purple journal that housed all of her deepest thoughts. Thoughts that not even Maya knew. Riley kept it hidden underneath her mattress.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _It's me. Riley. Today was a rough day in Rileytown. Farkle and I got to help some teachers after school, and we all went to that fro-yo shop afterwards. Things were fine until that._

 _A girl tried to flirt with Lucas. I felt like yelling at her and pulling her hair out. She didn't deserve to even look at Lucas, much less talk to him. But I could feel Farkle and Maya silently waiting for my reaction: was I going to be the little immature goofball who couldn't handle anything?_

 _Everyone's judging me. I haven't grown up as fast as the others have. I still act like a nine year-old girl, one who doesn't want her toy to be taken away from her. I've been trying to calm myself down. Trying to act like everything's fine. But it has just led me into a bipolar state of panic. One minute I'm mature, the next minute I'm not. Sometimes I can't even recognize myself. I'm so volatile._

 _I don't want to be like that. I want to be like Maya. She's so strong and so amazingly quick on her feet. Nobody says that she is immature or annoying. Everyone looks up to her. She is strong. Confident, despite what else is going on in her life. My life is a thousand times better than hers, but I still have the need to complain._

 _She hasn't even been asked to the school dance yet. I don't know why. Out of at least 100 boys, no one wants to go with her? It doesn't make any sense._

 _My "hang-man" placemarkers have five letters. But they don't stand for "Lucas". I found that out today. His tattoo only has four letters._

A tear fell onto the paper. Riley laughed bitterly and wiped it away.

 _Is it Maya? He didn't want to show it to me. Maya has been on edge this whole time, too. It would explain her little outburst the other day._

 _But wouldn't Maya trust me?_

Riley's hand hovered over her diary as she stared at the words. Before all of this commotion, Riley and Maya had always told each other everything. They went everywhere together. No secrets were kept- her dad even said that their co-dependency was almost unhealthy. The girls always ignored him when he said that.

But now, Riley kept a diary. One that she hid underneath her mattress so that Maya wouldn't accidentally find it and read it. And apparently, Maya had a secret, too. So did Lucas.

Riley sighed. Sure, she was angry that Lucas wasn't her soulmate. She felt led-on, embarrassed, and disappointed. He never once mentioned that she wasn't his. He just let her continue on, pretending that what they had was special enough to last. She was embarrassed- everyone knew that she was a fake. What they had was never real enough to be _real._ Everyone knew that she was head-over-heels for a guy who never really felt the same way. Disappointment flooded her emotions like a tidal wave. She had wasted her once-in-a-lifetime chance on a boy she met in a subway. Her mom and dad had spent at least two years getting to know each other as friends. Maybe that's why they worked out. She plastered a label on Lucas that he rejected.

In favor of a girl with a four letter name. Like Maya.

Riley was done being angry. Yes, she had enough to fuel a hatred that could last well into college. She felt like shutting Maya out of her life forever. After everything that they'd been through, Riley felt like she had been betrayed. Like Maya _stole_ Lucas away, even though, in the back of her mind, Riley knew that it wasn't so.

Riley was a good girl. She got good grades. She helped her parents with Auggie and with the chores. She helped Maya, Farkle, and Lucas with whatever they needed help with. She was kind. She wasn't rebellious, like Maya. She followed the rules. She dressed neatly, never showing too much skin. She smiled a lot. She made people feel welcome.

So how come the universe decided that she wasn't worthy of a "happily ever after"?

Riley's eyes teared up again, and she threw the diary across the room. It hit the wall with a resounding _thump_ and fell to the floor.

Topanga came in when she heard the commotion. Upon entering Riley's room, she noticed the girl with puffy eyes and a sad smile. Topanga sighed.

"What happened, Riley?" Topanga walked on over to the bed and sat down. She smoothed Riley's hair down and gave her a tissue.

Riley blew her nose loudly and took a deep breath.

"I don't even know where to start, Mom," she admitted. Her red eyes once again filled with tears.

"How about you start with the first thing that made you upset?" Topanga asked gently.

Riley nodded, agreeing. That seemed like a good place to start.

"We went for fro-yo and a girl started flirting with Lucas." 

Topanga raised her eyebrows. "Oh? Did you try and stop her?"

Riley shook her head. "No, I left them. I thought that it was funny at the time. And I trusted that Lucas wouldn't try anything."

Topanga looked at her daughter, proud and surprised. "Well, that was very mature of you. I'm sure that you felt like kicking her out of the store."

Riley laughed sadly and nodded. "Yeah, I did. But that wasn't the worst part."

"No?"

Riley shook her head. "No. I finally got the courage to ask Lucas what his tattoo was. And he wouldn't tell me anything, except for the fact that it was four letters. And I know that his tattoo already came in, because Farkle said it did. But even Farkle hasn't brought it up yet. So it could only mean that Lucas is hiding something from me because he knew that it would hurt me even more than what he had already disclosed. And the only thing that could make me feel even worse right now is knowing that the four letters stand for _Maya._ "

Riley smiled. "It's funny. I only had five lines on my wrist, and I amped up all this hope. All this anticipation that it would be Lucas. And this whole time, he knew that it was somebody else. I never would have thought that a week could change our lives so much. He knew that it wasn't me for a whole week. But he never bothered to tell me."

Riley turned to her mom. "And you know what the worst part is? I wouldn't have been so angry if it was a random 'Dani' that Lucas was supposed to marry. I'm almost 100% certain that Maya is his soulmate. And even though I know that they would make each other happy, it hurts even more that the girl who stole Lucas away was my own best friend. I almost want to drive them away from each other, even though I know that it would ruin their whole lives. Does that make me a bad person?"

Topanga blew some air through her teeth. "Y-es..." She said.

Riley threw her hands up in the air. "Mom, you weren't supposed to answer that! It was a rhetorical question! You were supposed to comfort me, not make me feel worse!"

Topanga held up her hands in mock surrender. "Now, Riley, you didn't let me finish. This action does paint you in a bad light. And I am a firm believer in looking at the motives behind the actions. For example, if a man stole medicine because he wanted to help his daughter, I wouldn't think that he was a bad person. Just irresponsible and wild, if you will."

She turned to look towards her daughter. "But the fact that you want to separate your two best friends because of your own selfish reasons makes you... Slightly worse than the average human, even if all your feelings are perfectly reasonable. Which they are," Topanga worded her answer carefully. "But it doesn't have to be like this. Do Maya and Lucas know about each other?"

Riley folded her arms and turned away from her mom. "How would I know? They act like they don't, but for all I know, they've already married!"

"I think you're over-exaggerating."

"Yeah. And a week ago, I thought that Maya asking about Lucas was me over-exaggerating. And look at where we are now!" Riley grabbed another tissue and blew her nose.

Topanga sighed. "Listen, I am obviously not going to be able to talk some sense into you. I'll be back later. In the meantime, your dad is going to be home soon. I am going to send him in to talk to you. I expect that full respect and attention will be given to him. Do you hear me, young lady?"

Riley nodded sullenly.

Topanga left the room and closed the door silently, only to slam into Cory's chest.

"Well, hello," Cory said slyly, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

Topanga rolled her eyes. "Not now, Cory. Your daughter is dealing with her teenage crisis right now, and I can't get through to her. Perhaps you would like to try?"

Cory shook his head hard. "No-no, I think that I'm good." He just got home from work. The last thing that he wanted to do was confront a teenager.

Topanga raised her eyebrows at him.

He sighed, defeated. "Yes, dear. I'll check on her," Cory said as he turned towards Riley's room.

He braced himself for the torrential storm that was Riley Matthews and opened the door quietly. "Riley? You okay?"

Riley's face brightened at seeing that it was her father. He had a soft spot for her and was always nicer than Topanga. Topanga had a "lawyer" streak about her: right was right and wrong was wrong. She seldom sugar-coated anything and often laid things down in cold, stone facts.

"Dad! Mom's being mean, and she said that I was a bad person."

"I'm sure that she didn't mean it like that. Did you let her finish?" Cory asked the girl.

"No. But I don't need to. Those kinds of things don't need explanations, Dad," Riley explained patronizingly. "She quite obviously meant what she said."

"Okay," Cory gave in quickly. "So, what happened? Why did you go all God-zilla on your mom?"

Riley sighed. "Lucas's tattoo only has four letters. Not five. And even though Farkle said that all the letters came in already, Lucas wouldn't show me. So that means that the name would upset me a lot- that's why he didn't want to show me. And who else has a four letter name? Maya." Riley explained all of this to Cory, who sat in deep thought.

"Okay... And where in this mess do you come in? Why are you a bad person?" Cory asked. The news about Maya and Lucas didn't surprise him, although Farkle's quietness did. Farkle was always one to make Riley happy- maybe that's why he didn't tell her the truth.

"I'm not!" Riley exclaimed. "Mom said that I was because of what I told her."

"And what did you tell her?"

Riley looked at the ground sheepishly. "I said that it hurt more because it was Maya instead of any other girl. Because she's so close to me."

Cory nodded thoughtfully. "I'm not sure that you understood what your mother was trying to say, darling," he said as he took Riley by the arm. "I'm pretty sure we can all agree that it is more hurtful when someone is close to us. If I stole money from somebody else, that's bad. But if I stole money from you, oh boy. That's even worse."

Riley nodded. "I get it. So what was Mom trying to say if she understood my side of the story?"

"What she meant was that if you _truly loved Maya,_ even more than Lucas or whatever you guys had... You would be happy for her regardless- _especially_ because you are so close. Do you understand? Her happiness should mean so much more to you _because_ you guys are best friends. Somebody getting married is great. But having your brother marry a nice girl means so much more. Am I being clear?"

"Yes, daddy," Riley said with a sigh of defeat. "I really should go and have a talk with Maya."

Cory raised his eyebrows. "She doesn't know about any of this?"

Riley shook her head and flopped onto her bed. "I acted like everything was fine! Of course she doesn't know. I mean, I think she probably suspects something. But she hasn't brought it up. And neither have I."

"You should talk to her," Cory said gently. "Communication is the foundation of any relationship. At the end of the day, you will realize that telling her how you feel is better than keeping it bottled up inside."

Riley smiled a real smile for the first time since she got home. "Thanks, dad. I should probably go call her now. In fact, I think that I'm going to go surprise her at her house!"

Cory looked at his daughter in astonishment. "Wow! You're venturing out into the deep end?"

Riley laughed. "It's not that bad."


	10. Confrontation

Riley hurried through the subway, pausing to smile at some people along the way. Rush hour had descended upon New York City, and people swarmed around her like a hive of honey bees. She walked briskly in the streets, kept her head down, and hoped that Maya would be home.

* * *

Lucas and Maya sat in front of the television, eyes glued to the screen. After fro-yo, Lucas had offered to walk Maya home with Farkle. When they discovered that Katy wasn't home yet, the boys adamantly stuck their heads into the apartment and refused to leave. Eventually, Farkle's dad called him home- apparently it was his turn to cook the family dinner.

"Once a week," Farkle said proudly. "My culinary skills are really improving. If you guys want-" he stopped short when his phone rang again. He ignored it, putting the cell back into his pocket. "I better get going, my dad won't shut up otherwise. You tell a guy once that you want to spend more time together and he suddenly wants family dinner every single day of the week! Anyways, if you guys want, I can cook for you guys sometime. It ought to be really fun! See you guys tomorrow at the basketball game?" Farkle asked his friends. "Well, Lucas, obviously you're playing. What about you Maya? Are you going?"

Maya raised her eyebrows. "Why? You planning on going?"

Farkle nodded vigorously. "I've developed a new love for the sport. You will come and watch it with me, will you? It's kind of weird sitting all by myself." He scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

"Since when do you care about being weird? You're Farkle. You always have been," Maya said with a little laugh. "Don't go changing on me, you hear?" She stepped forward to give him a good-bye hug. "We'll see you tomorrow."

Farkle smiled, elated. "Will do, my dear Maya. Bye Lucas. Thanks for keeping me company!"

Lucas laughed. "The pleasure was ours. See you!"

After Farkle left, the two stared at each other in silence. Maya spoke up first.

"No Riley. No Farkle."

Lucas nodded, amused. The tiny blonde stood in front of him, waggling her eyebrows.

"You know what this means?" she asked him.

"Disney time!" the pair screamed as they ran to the living room and turned on the television. Maya made popcorn, and the two hunkered down, pulling blankets and comforters from Maya's room to make a little fortress. It had become another sort of tradition, that when they both had the time, they would watch Disney together. Maya was too tough, and Lucas was... a boy. Better for no one to know that they cried over Rapunzel and Flynn. They successfully ignored each other for the duration of the movie, except for when Lucas started crying. Maya always took a few pictures of that for later blackmail. No one ever said that she was pure.

* * *

Riley climbed up the stairs to Maya's apartment, stopping a few times along the way to catch her breath. She used her key to let herself in, and stopped short when she heard snorts of laughter. Who could it be? Was Katy with Maya? No, it sounded like a boy. Who...?

Riley rounded the corner and was shell-shocked when she looked upon the scene. Maya and Lucas's backs faced away from her as they laughed at a joke. Their bodies touched, side-to-side, and Lucas kept on looking at Maya as she stared at the screen. They sat on the floor, with a blanket covering both of them like a cocoon.

 _They look happy,_ Riley thought wistfully. She was so lost in a trance that she didn't notice that Maya had turned around when she heard the commotion.

"Riley!" Maya said quickly. She shoved the popcorn bowl out of her lap and quickly scooted away from Lucas. Jumping up, Maya ran on over to Riley to diffuse any tension. She plastered on a smile before beginning.

"What brings you to my humble abode? Unaccompanied, I hope," she added as Riley gave her a big hug. "I don't want another lecture from Mr. Matthews about doing my homework before watching a movie."

Riley shook her head.

"No dads today. I just wanted to talk to you," Riley said, a little downcast. She had come to talk about Lucas, in particular. But here he was. Spending time with Maya. Alone. Things change when boys and girls spend time alone. Don't they?

Maya's eyebrows furrowed as she noticed Riley's sadness. "Everything okay?" She asked as her hand rubbed Riley's arm. "Anything bad happen?"

Lucas slowly got up and stood by Maya. "Riley, you don't look too good. Is everything all right? You know that we're here whenever you need us."

Riley's head lifted up as she stared at the two. They looked good together. Maya's head came to Lucas's chest, and their blue eyes complimented each other perfectly. No, she wasn't all right. Because she was supposed to be the girl. Not Maya. And even though she was supposed to have nothing but love for her best friend, at that particular moment, she wanted Maya to fail out of school and disappear from their lives.

"Yeah," Riley said with a smile, eyes glittering with tears. "I'm fine. Just wanted to talk with Maya, that's all."

Lucas nodded slowly. "That's all good, then. I'll leave now. Can I just speak with Maya for a minute?" he asked Riley.

She gave her consent and watched both of them disappear into the hallway. And even though Riley knew that she shouldn't _ever_ eavesdrop... she couldn't help it. Riley snuck up behind the wall and listened in.

"You think she's okay?" Lucas asked Maya.

"Of course she's not, stupid." Maya replied angrily. The boy snorted in response.

"Love you too, my dear princess."

"Right, right," Maya gave in, running her hands through her hair. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that towards you. Riley just hasn't been acting like herself lately. It's been keeping me on edge."

Lucas sighed. "I know. Listen, text me, Farkle, and Zay when you're done, okay? Give us the important stuff. But if it's private, don't feel the need to tell us."

Maya rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

Lucas smiled. "Glad we're on the same page then, Shortstack."

"Right, Huckleberry," Maya huffed as he pulled her into a tight hug. "You know, I will get you back for that name," she warned.

"Yeah, well, I think that it's worth the risk." Lucas said as he ruffled her hair.

The two came out of the hallway to find Riley back in her original position, staring at her nails.

Lucas cleared he throat. "See you later, Riley."

Riley smiled sadly. "Bye, Lucas."

The boy nodded once more to Maya and quietly let himself out after turning off the T.V.

Maya looked over at Riley.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Riley took a big, deep breath. "I still like Lucas, Maya. You know that. I think that a part of me will always like Lucas."

Maya nodded, unable to tell whether Riley had found out about her little secret. "Your tattoo hasn't come in, yet. Maybe Lucas's is malfunctioning. Yours could be Lucas, and his still could be you."

Riley shook her head. "Tattoos don't just _fail,_ Maya. I know."

Maya's heart started racing as she took in this information. "You know? What do you mean by that?"

"I know that my soulmate isn't Lucas. And from what you've told me, nobody else knows what is going on either," Riley said, to which Maya gave a small sigh of relief. "Just tell me what your tattoo shows right now. Are you lying to me?" Riley asked Maya quizzically.

Maya's brain went on overload. Should she just come clean now? Should she keep it up? What could she do? What _should_ she do?

"Like I said," Maya replied hesitantly. "Just the place-markers, blanks. It hasn't come in yet."

Riley nodded, not sure whether she believed her or not. "I won't be really mad if it is Lucas, you know," she said. "Lucas won't ever come between our friendship. You know that, right?"

Maya gave her a small affirmation, but still looked concerned. "You..." Maya began, picking at her fingers. "You have to let go of Lucas, Riley. Whether or not my tattoo says Lucas is beyond your concern. You know that Lucas isn't your soulmate because his tattoo's blanks don't match up with yours. What good are you doing by still holding out hope for him?"

Riley stepped back and blinked away a few shocked tears. "Who do you think you are to say that to me, Maya?"

Maya stuttered in surprise. "I'm your friend! I have an obligation to show you the world! I have an obligation to make sure that your head isn't stuck up in the clouds!"

Riley rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah? What about the 'Riley Committee'? Yeah, I know about that. And I don't particularly appreciate that my three closest friends think that I'm a basket case."

Maya snorted. "Everybody thinks you're a basket case!"

"Well then, I guess that I should just fulfill everybody's expectations and storm out of here!" Riley roared.

"Why don't you show yourself out?" Maya replied angrily. "I would tell you who my tattoo says, but I don't want you blowing up even more!"

Riley paused long enough to go over Maya's sentence. "You were lying to me? So it is Lucas!"

Maya shook her head. "No, I never said that."

"But you implied it!" Riley shot back. "I can't believe that my best friend stole my first crush from me!" She said, mostly to herself.

Maya scoffed. "I didn't _steal_ anything, and even if I did, you are supposed to be supportive! And not so amazingly selfish. Yeah, Riley. You might be all sunshine and rainbows, but that doesn't mean that you don't have character flaws. It just makes it harder to bear for those who are constantly demeaned as the 'bad one'." Maya said.

Riley's tears began to fall down her face. "Did you really feel like that? Why didn't you tell me?"

Maya looked at her friend's tear-stricken face and immediately wished that she could take back those words, even if they were true. "You wouldn't understand," she said softly.

The girls were interrupted by Maya's mom who wrestled her way through the door with bags of groceries.

"Oh, hey girls!" She said cheerfully before looking at the pair. One stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest; the other stared off into the distance, tears streaming down her face. The latter quickly pulled a tissue out of her pocket and blew her nose loudly.

"Oh dear."


	11. Mom's Intervention and Stealthy Plans

Katy looked at the girls, uncomprehending. What was going on? The best friends on the whole planet looked like they wanted to strangle each other. Riley, through her tears, looked at Maya a few times to see if she would apologize. Maya simply stared at her mother, daring her to fix the problem.

"Well, well, well! What do we have here?" Katy asked reluctantly as she put the groceries back down onto the floor. "Riley, what's wrong, honey?"

Riley sniffled and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I don't even know anymore. I'm just so tired," she said, half-numb to her surroundings. "Maya can tell you."

Maya sighed. "She's angry because I brought up the 'Riley Committee' and how she should let Lucas go since they aren't soulmates. We know that they're not soulmates because Lucas's tattoo only has four letters." She made careful note not to mention that her own name had four letters.

Katy nodded slowly, cleverly avoiding that subject as well. "Well, that sounds reasonable enough. Riley, what are you so angry about?"

Riley took a deep breath. "I just don't like everybody treating me like I'm stupid! I don't like Maya telling me what to do, like I don't know how to handle the situation."

Maya snorted in response. "You don't! You're still pining for a guy who hasn't made a move since you met him on the subway!"

Katy swatted at Maya. "Not now!" she said as she turned back to Riley. "Honey, are you really angry that you yourself are so naive, or are you just angry that everyone is treating you like that? There is a difference, you know. Good, friendly advice is not a bad thing."

Riley paused for a moment. It was true that she was more naive than Maya- she always would be. In a way, that was kind of unfair and cruel. Nobody liked being dumb. Mature girls were all the rage. On the other hand, her friends stifled her growth a lot of the time by demeaning her ability to understand the world. She was more innocent than everyone else, but everyone else also made too big of a deal about it.

"I guess it's both," Riley said hesitantly. "I know that I still have a lot to learn, but I also know that everybody thinks I'm dumb. Which is fine, but I wouldn't like people to shove it in my face."

"You are completely right, Riley," Katy agreed. "No one should belittle you because of your innocent mind. But you should still accept their advice, because they just want to help you. I'm sure that Maya didn't think you were stupid. Maya, what do you have to say about this?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "That wasn't your problem before. Riley, the whole reason you got mad in the first place was because I exposed the truth to you. Take it as it is- you live in fairytale land." Maya said forcefully. "I said 'Why keep hanging onto Lucas if you guys aren't meant to be?'. It was never about being naive or being treated dumb- it was because of Lucas! And I was right! I don't understand what there is to be mad about."

"One minute you are protecting me, and the next minute you show me the truth!" Riley shot back angrily. "Sometimes I feel like all of this is just for your ulterior motive and not for the benefit of me. You guys like sweet, innocent Riley, but when she gets too dumb for you, you guys just pull off the bandage."

"So?" Maya retorted. "What's wrong with that?"

Riley sputtered. "That's rude!"

"It's not that rude, and it's not because you get 'too dumb'. It's because some truths are more important than others. We can let it pass that you still want Pluto to be a planet, but to be hurting yourself and Lucas's lives and chances because you simply can't let him go is a whole 'nother story," Maya explained harshly.

Riley stopped in her tracks. Tears fell down her face as she stared at Maya. She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "But what's to become of me? What am I to do?"

Katy patted her back reassuringly. "Well, whatever do you mean? First crushes don't last, they aren't meant to. It's like, a rite of passage for any boy or girl. I almost never hear of a couple in middle school getting married later on."

Riley shook her head. "What about my mother and father? They were together all the time!"

Katy smiled knowingly. "Not entirely true, missy. Much of the first stages of their relationship was teasing and bantering; they didn't really get together until they got to know each other. And I know that this is the least thing that you need to hear right now, but maybe that's what went wrong." Katy handed a tissue to Riley, who blew her nose loudly.

"And hey, this isn't the end of the world. The end-of-the-year dance is this next weekend. Find yourself a date, have fun. Or just go with Maya."

Maya nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. Just go with me."

Riley squinted her eyes through her tears. "What, no one's asked you?" Maya shook her head. "That's impossible! I just passed three boys today in the hallway who were talking about you! Maybe they're waiting for a grand dramatic gesture."

Maya laughed, wishing that she could soak up some of Riley's innocence. "Or, I'm just the type of girl that guys look at but never actually want. Let's face it, Riley. It's always been you that guys pine after. I'm just here."

Riley blew her nose again and went to hug her. "Oh, peaches. That's not true at all. I'm sure that there is at least one boy out there who would do anything for you and mean it."

"Thanks, Riley," Maya said. "And one's all I need, right?"

Katy smiled. "Right."

* * *

Lucas walked on over to Zay's house after leaving Maya's. Something was wrong with Riley, and he knew that Maya would get to the bottom of it, but he first needed to talk to Zay. Zay and Riley seemed to hit it off when they first met, and though he would go ask Farkle, Lucas was sure that Farkle was still cooking with his dad.

"Hey, man!" Lucas said as he greeted Zay outside Zay's house. "How are you?"

"Good, never been better." Zay said with a grunt as he high-fived his friend. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Lucas said. "Just some stuff with Riley. Would you happen to know how to fix it?"

Zay nodded. "Girl sad that you have Maya on your wrist?"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "You aren't supposed to talk about it."

"How can I not?" Zay asked. "It's this big gaping problem in the friend group, and I would love to watch it play out. There's nothing you really can do until she makes her peace with it. And she will- Riley's a smart girl."

"Hey, are you going to ask Maya to the dance? I know that we've been threatening every boy in sight, but it still wouldn't matter if you don't actually ask her." Zay said with a sheepish smile. "I nearly had to beat up a kid today when he said that he was still going to ask her. In the end, I had to bribe him with money, so if the dance doesn't end with you and Maya slow dancing, then you owe me big time.

Lucas scratched his head. "Yeah, I was meaning to ask her. But I don't know what she'd like. Or how'd she want it. It's just scary. I want to do it well. And your pressure isn't making it any easier, you know."

Zay smiled at his friend. "Oh, you're in deep! This is too fun. Can I take a picture? Our boy's finally in love."

Lucas smiled in response. "Haha, very funny. What do you suggest, Mr. Romancer?"

Zay thought for a moment before speaking.

"Secret Admirer."


	12. Boy Talk

Lucas laughed gingerly. "What does that even mean?"

Zay scoffed in mock indignation. "You don't even know what a secret admirer is? Your love life with Riley must have been booor-ing," Zay sang as he thumped Lucas on the back. "Basically, you just write love letters or drop off chocolates and stuff, but don't let her know who did it. Do it up, leading to the dance, and then you can do a big reveal! I live for secret admirers."

Lucas gave a small chuckle. "Sure, I'll sleep on that tonight. I just hope that Riley doesn't catch on too soon."

"Whatever happened with you and Riley, anyways? I thought it was you two who went out instead of you and Maya." Zay speculated as he popped a strawberry into his mouth.

Lucas sighed. "Yeah, it was. Maya pushed Riley into my lap on the subway the first day that we met, and I guess she just thought that it was going to happen. We were kind of meant to be, in a sense."

Zay nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I remember that. You called me about that 'blonde beauty' you met on the subway and her friend, which I'm guessing was Riley."

Lucas gave a curt nod. "I liked Riley at that time, I did. It wasn't like I was screwing her over, you have to believe me on that. It was just too easy, I guess. I don't know about her, but it was just a very easy, fun relationship back then. I didn't really see it going it anywhere or serving any purpose than to pass the time. Everybody has a middle-school relationship that doesn't go anywhere, right?"

Zay whistled softly. "I'm pretty sure that she wanted you to propose to her eventually. She was even mad when you didn't ask her to the semi-formal after you guys 'broke up'."

"I just assumed that we were going together as a group! We decided that dating wasn't our forte, so I don't know why she seemed so upset and hurt. I can guess why she was upset about Maya, though."

"Yeah, that's true," Zay agreed. "There's something about having your best friend date your ex-boyfriend that tends to crush the hearts of girls."

Lucas gave Zay a look. "You know that is definitely not what I need right now."

"Why?" Zay asked incredulously. "It's not like you guys did her wrong. You both mutually called it off. And you and Maya have amazing chemistry. It's true love," he said dreamily.

"Yep, Zay," Lucas said, pre-occupied with this new notion. He never really thought about what this meant to Riley. He always assumed that they were on the same page- the fiasco at the semi-formal obviously proved otherwise. They had originally called it off together, but maybe Riley was never really "over it".

"Hey, Zay?" Lucas asked his friend who was still bemoaning the obvious romantic chemistry between him and Maya.

"Yeah?" Zay replied.

"Do you think that I should talk to Riley and ask for her permission to date Maya?"

Zay shrugged. "It's going to happen either way. The universe obviously wants it. If it would help your conscience, I suggest that you go for it. In fact, to avoid the wrath of said brunette, I would highly advise it."

Lucas nodded slowly. "Yeah, I would hate for Riley to think badly of Maya because of me. She was just visiting Maya as I left- I hope that they didn't fight."

Zay laughed. "Well, it might be a little late for that, because I am almost entirely sure that they did fight. Tensions have been building up, cowboy. I guess you didn't notice because you were so focused on Maya, but Riley has been getting suspicious lately. I've had to diffuse the tensions every so often."

"Thanks, Zay," Lucas said. "I've got to hit up the library for a few books. You want to come with?"

Zay smiled. "Sure. I've got to return some stuff anyways. Want to rent the latest Marvel movie?"

Lucas laughed. "Whenever have I said no to that?"

* * *

The boys entered the library and breathed a sigh or relief. Summertime was quickly approaching New York City, and the cement sidewalks seemed to absorb all the sunlight, leaving people to walk on scorching hot roads. The air conditioning was on in the building, and the boys stopped for a while to drink water and calm down.

"Man, I didn't know that New York was just as bad as Texas in the summer. It's a different kind of heat, mind you- Texas is a bit drier-, but it still hurts like something else." Zay complained as he dunked his head into the water fountain.

"I know," Lucas agreed. His eyes took notice of a boy around their age who was looking at them from behind a bookshelf. The boy quickly averted his gaze. "Hey, Zay," he whispered. "Don't turn around too quickly, but do you notice the guy by the bookshelf?"

Zay pretended to look around the building and soon spotted the culprit. "Yeah. Looks shifty. What do you think is his deal?"

"I don't know. Why don't we go ask? He seems pretty harmless."

Zay scoffed. "Dude, everything is harmless compared to you."

Lucas laughed. "Let's just go check it out- he might need a couple of friends."

Zay sighed. "Darn you and your good-will."

Lucas ignored his friend and tugged him gently over to the boy who resumed looking at the books in front of him. "You like astronomy?" he asked, interested.

The boy looked up at them, startled. "Um, yeah. My dad works for NASA."

Zay whistled softly. "You should meet our friend, Farkle. He would love to get to know you more."

The boy smiled softly. "That sounds like fun." He dropped his books on the floor and cleared his throat. "My name is Gavin. You guys are?"

Lucas quickly shook the boy's hand. "I'm Lucas, and this guy is Zay. Are you new around here? I don't think that I've ever seen you before."

Gavin shook his head. "No, I just moved here with my mom. My dad is still stationed at the NASA base. I'm starting at the high school in the fall."

"Hey, that's great! So are we!" Lucas beamed. "You should come over sometime and meet the rest of our friends. You already heard of Farkle, but there's also Riley and Maya. They are both really nice girls, well, except for Maya." Lucas laughed sheepishly. "But you'll grow on her, I know you will. I say you'll grow on her because it doesn't really matter what you think of her. Do you have a phone?"

The boys exchanged phone numbers and contact information, vowing to meet up sometime later.

* * *

Somewhere in Maya's apartment, Riley was washing up for dinner. Suddenly, a small faint trace of the letter G appeared on her arm.


	13. All Clear

Riley quickly took notice of the faint mark and dropped everything. "Maya!" she yelled for her best friend as she hurriedly scrubbed at the letter. "Code red!"

Maya gently put the dishes down on the table before rushing to the kitchen where Riley was. "What happened? Did you hurt yourself?" Maya asked as she inspected Riley's face for damage.

"No, it's my arm!" Riley stuck her wrist out for Maya to see. "Look! There's a faint G! I don't know anybody with a G in their name! What do I do?" Riley shook her wrist in front of Maya's face.

Maya sucked in a big breath, scared and agitated. "I don't know! I'm just as new to this as you are!" she quickly paused as she stared at the mark. "Maybe we should ask my mother. Mom!" Maya yelled. "We need you!"

Katy quickly came out of the laundry room where she was finishing up a load, still red in the face from all the work. "What is it? Anybody hurt?" She quickly inspected both girls.

Maya shook her head rapidly and pushed her mother in front of herself. "No, there's just this line on Riley's arm. It just appeared now, out of nowhere. And we don't know anybody with a name that starts with G and has five letters. Gabe in the other American History class only has four letters." Maya explained as Katy took hold of Riley's arm for inspection.

"Nothing happened today that could be the cause of this? You didn't meet anybody new?" she questioned Riley, who responded with a resolute "no".

"Well," said Katy. "Sometimes these tattoos can begin to form if one of your close friends or family comes into contact with your soulmate. Have you seen any of the boys today? Or your family?"

Riley nodded, her eyes wide. "Yeah, we just saw them earlier today at the fro-yo shop. I haven't seen Zay yet, though. Maybe he went somewhere." Riley stared at her mark. "So you think that they might have already met my soulmate? And this indirect contact caused the letter to appear?"

Katy nodded. "It's certainly a possibility. Obviously, this tattoo is still really light. You girls might have been a little too excited. At this rate, it looks like it could still transform into a "Q", or maybe even an "O". It's too faint for my eyes to detect clearly."

Maya snatched up Riley's arm to look. Her mother was right- it was still really light. She sighed. "You're right, Mom. Olive? Quint? Grant?" Maya began spitting out names as she massaged Riley's arm. "It could be anything at this point."

Riley just stared at it as mother and daughter began debating. This was everything that she had ever wanted. A soulmate. For something to happen to her mundane, everyday life. But now that it actually had happened, she was scared. It wasn't Lucas, that was for sure. But it was also no one that she knew, which made it even more frightening. What was she to expect? What if she wouldn't enjoy it after all?

Katy noticed Riley's discomfort and gave her a gentle hug. "Now, I know that this is all very new and possibly scary. But I can guarantee you that this journey will be full of fun surprises and twists and turns," she said as she brushed some hair out of Riley's face. "This trip will last you a lifetime. And even if you have to let go of some crush a few years ago, I bet that you won't even care about it in twenty years' time."

Riley smiled sadly and swallowed. "You're right. Of course, you're right. I don't know why I'm so afraid. I don't know what's going on. At all. And now this is the start of a new chapter in my life, and I don't know when to begin. I'm not even sure that I want it to begin."

Maya held Riley's hand. "Hey. No matter what happens, at least I will always be here. Right next to you."

Riley gave Maya a little grin. "That's right. Nothing can separate us. Not even boy troubles or high school." Riley hugged Maya tightly. "Now, who's ready for dinner? I'm starving!"

* * *

Later that day, Riley and Maya sat facing each other, painting each other's nails. Riley focused on Maya's feet, while Maya sat contemplating which colors would coordinate best.

"Hey, Maya?" Riley asked quietly.

"Yeah?" she answered, distracted by the vast array of nail polishes that sat in front of her.

"What if it's not everything that I dreamed it would be? What if... I just get disappointed in the long run?" Riley questioned as she stared at Maya's toes.

Maya looked up, startled and surprised. "What is this? Riley not automatically hoping for the best? I'm shocked! We have to call the President!" she joked.

Riley gave a reluctant smile. "Stop that!" she said. "I'm serious. What if this whole romantic ideal just doesn't exist?"

Maya sighed. "How is that even possible for you to question? You have the best, most loving couple as your parents. You see how you love Auggie and me. You see how my mom loves me, even if she is away all the time to provide for me. You see how Shawn comes and visits us now and then. How can you question if love doesn't exist?"

Riley tugged at her hair. "Well, what if it just doesn't exist in the way that I imagined it? What if it doesn't exist for me?"

Maya stared at her friend. "What does that even mean?"

Riley chewed at the inside of her lip, trying to formulate all the thoughts in her brain into one coherent sentence. "What if... love just isn't what I thought it was?"

Maya smiled gently. "What about your mom and dad? If that isn't love, then what is?"

Riley shook her head. "No, they aren't as perfect as you think. They've had their own ups and downs. I've heard them fight every so often."

"So what?" Maya asked. "It's bound to happen! Sometimes people who love each other will disagree. And that's perfectly normal. Love exists, and it might even be better than you could ever have expected."

"What if nothing will ever happen the way I want it to?" Riley blurted out as she looked at her friend, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

Maya quickly got up and gave Riley a big hug. Still holding on, she continued. "Things will happen for you. And I know that you're sad that your thing with Lucas didn't work out. Believe me, I would be sad, too. But things will work out for you. And your life will be everything that you've ever imagined. Anything that you could ever want, you will work for, and you will get. Love doesn't have to be perfect to be what you need. If you're worried about this new mystery guy, I can tell you that the universe has a way of working things out just right, so that all the dominos fall into the right order. You can listen to Farkle all day, everyday. But I know that you believe in a God. And I know that you believe that He looks out for you. I still don't know if I believe in Him. But when it comes to you, I think that anything is possible."

Riley let Maya go and sniffled, rubbing her eyes. "Since when did you grow up to be such an optimist?"

Maya smiled softly. "I had a great teacher, with big hopes, big eyes, and big dreams."

"Oh, you clever girl, you!" Riley said excitedly. "You're talking about me, aren't you?"

Maya laughed. "Yeah, I am."

* * *

The girls got ready for bed quietly, being careful not to disturb Katy, who had a long day of work ahead. Riley fluffed the comforter as Maya turned off the lights, and the girls jumped into the bed, trying to muffle their giggles.

"I'm glad you came over today, Riley," Maya said as she turned to face her best friend.

"I am, too," Riley replied. "We sure got a lot of stuff out today."

Maya nodded. "That is true." She bit at her lip as she avoided Riley's gaze.

"What is it?" Riley said as she noticed Maya's discomfort. "Is there anything you need?"

Maya took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "There's something that I want to tell you," she said. "And you might not like it."

Riley rolled her eyes playfully. "I don't think that there is anything you could do that would make me angry right now. I am too stuffed up with brownies to be angry. Fire away."

Maya laughed reluctantly. "My tattoo came in a while ago. I didn't want to tell you, because I knew that you and Lucas had a thing. And you guys were waiting for each other, and I just felt so guilty. I didn't know what to do. My mom doesn't even know yet, I haven't told anybody. And of course I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how you would react. And I don't know how Lucas would react. Soulmates don't just click together all the time, sometimes it takes work, and I'm afraid that he wouldn't want to-"

Riley shushed her best friend quietly. "Calm down, fireball," she said. "It's not good to get worked up before bedtime."

Maya smiled in appreciation. "You're okay with this?" she asked hesitantly.

Riley looked up. "Not really," she said at first. "Kind of. For you?" Riley asked as she looked at Maya's concerned face. "Anything."

Maya's tears spilled out as she gave Riley a big hug. "You know that I value your opinion most in the world, right?"

Riley smiled. "I know. And you know what else I've learned?" she asked Maya. "I care too much about your happiness to kill it with my own selfishness."

"Thanks, Riley," Maya said as she rubbed at her eyes. "When did all this happen?"

Riley laughed quietly. "I don't know. I think earlier today, I was really upset about you and Lucas." When Riley received Maya's stares, she continued on. "I already kind of suspected something, to be honest. But I didn't want to believe it until you told me. Because we tell each other everything."

Maya nodded with an embarrassed smile. "Yeah, I've been trying to keep up my part of the promise."

Riley shook her head vigorously. "No, I totally get you not telling me at first. I wouldn't even know what to do if my soulmate was someone like Farkle or Zay. Like, we've always made them as just purely platonic friends. And... it's just weird. But yeah, I was thinking about it. And I know that you'd do anything for me. And I want to be able to do that for you," Riley ended with a little smile and shrug. "It's what best friends do. It will take some time to get used to, but I think that it is worth it."

"That means a lot to me." Maya said softly.

"And you mean a lot to me."


	14. Classroom Shenanigans

The next day, Riley and Maya sat in their desks in the History classroom. They silently waited for their friends to come in. The pair often got to class early because Riley was too afraid to do anything else after getting on the subway. Maya sighed softly as she looked at her friend, who looked back at her with a sheepish smile. After a few minutes, Farkle came bounding in with a grin that stretched ear-to-ear.

"Guess what, guys?" he asked excitedly, dumping his backpack onto his chair.

Maya rolled her eyes slowly. "What is it?" It was too early for this particular girl to care too much about anything, and Farkle's extreme smile was killing the mood for her.

"Smackle's going to transfer to Abigail Adams High School with us in the fall! Isn't that great?" Farkle announced with arms stretched over his head.

Riley laughed. "Yeah, Farkle! That's amazing," she said as she gave him her patented "Good Morning" hug.

Maya waved her hand in the air dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Amazing. We can listen to you chatter on for hours on end. I can't wait. As Riley's dad says, 'We don't have room for you and your words.'."

"Ignore her, Farkle," Riley said. "She's in a mood."

"I am not!"

Farkle raised his eyebrows. "I see. Shall I get Smackle on the phone? She might know some scientific remedies for your... lady problems."

Maya looked at him with glazed-over eyes, ignoring his hint at her "time of the month". "You know what? I'm going to take you up on your offer. Get her on the phone." Maya took Farkle's phone and walked out the classroom to get some privacy.

Without Maya, Riley resumed her everyday schedule before class: getting out her books, placing her water bottle on the floor, and taking a few cleansing breaths. Farkle watched all of this with amusement.

Lucas and Zay came in next, talking about the latest football game. "Hey, guys!" Lucas said cheerfully as he greeted Riley and Farkle. He placed his book bag on the floor gently and proceeded to talk about the game's stats. Apparently it was a very interesting game.

Riley's eye started twitching. _I know that Maya's soulmate is Lucas. But does Lucas know that? Have they talked about it? Of course they haven't! I can't keep secrets like this. My mind makes up hallucinations. What am I going to do? I need Maya... now! Where is she?_ Riley thought as she stared at Lucas. Her arms shook as she tried to calm down her eye.

"You okay, Riley?" Lucas asked, bemused. He stared at the tall brunette who dismissed him with a nonchalant wave.

"Yeah!" Riley replied loudly. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm not hiding anything."

Lucas laughed. "Okay, if you say so."

"I do," Riley answered with a slight smile before turning away quickly.

Maya came back in with a huff and threw Farkle's phone to him. He fumbled around for a bit before getting a firm grasp. "Could you maybe not throw my iPhone around like that next time? I may be rich, but my dad is super strict on how I spend his money."

"Yeah, yeah. Smackle sent me to voice mail, I guess she's at school," Maya said, distracted. "Riles, look what I found in my locker." Maya passed a piece of paper to Riley.

"Oh, it looks like a love note!" Riley said excitedly as she examined the paper. It had a poem written on it, as well as a small print of Van Gogh's portrait. "See, someone does like you. People don't _not_ like you."

Maya sighed as the group of boys looked at her with interest. "Riley, you weren't supposed to say that out loud."

"Whoops," Riley said sheepishly. She looked at the paper again, reading the poem softly. "Hey, this guy seems to know you pretty well! He either is one of the guys that you talk to often. Or a stalker. Either way, it looks like he likes you a lot."

Maya snatched the paper back. "Thank you for displaying that piece of information to the whole entire world."

Riley laughed. "Not the entire world. Just our friends."

Zay nodded. "Yeah, just your friends."

Lucas cleared his throat. "Hey, Maya. What do you think about your poem?"

Maya's head jerked up as she stared at Lucas, eyes squinted. "How did you know that it was a poem?"

Riley's eyes widened. "Good catch," she said under her breath.

Lucas's eyes darted from Zay to Maya. "Uh," he stammered for a few moments before gathering his thoughts. "I don't," he said as he stared at Zay for confirmation. Zay could only nod slightly. "I just, you know... assumed that it was. Because it's usually love letters and love poems. They kind of go together." Lucas said as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Normally."

Maya took this information in slowly. She didn't really believe his answer, but she couldn't understand why he would lie about something like this. Especially since he hasn't said anything about his tattoo to her yet. Maybe it really was just some random guy.

Zay raised his hand. "Miss Maya?" he asked.

Maya rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. What does the thing say?"

Maya blushed bright red. "Not much. Just a poem and a print of one of Van Gogh's paintings. He also asked if I would meet him at the school doors at the farewell dance."

Riley clapped her hands excitedly. "Are you going to? This is so exciting."

Maya nodded slowly. "Yeah, I will. Why make the poor boy suffer, right?"

Lucas watched this exchange as he bit his lip slightly.

Mr. Matthews came in at that moment, and greeted the kids. "Who's ready to learn?"

"We are!" Riley said with a smile.

The pair chattered on as Lucas watched Maya read the poem once more. She bent her head a little while a smile spread across her face slowly. She stared at the poem and the print for a while before tucking them into her art journal that she always kept with her.

Zay slapped Lucas on the back as a congratulatory salute.

 _To the Golden Girl_

 _Her golden-blonde hair shines in the sun_

 _and her ever-rare smile makes you feel like_

 _if you died today, it would be quite all right._

 _She is invested in her art,_

 _but not as much as she is in her friend. Her_

 _best friend, who often brings more problems than she solves_

 _is no match for the girl with a big, but slightly broken_

 _heart._

 _Her big heart is poured into her writing and her paintings,_

 _and though her art shows no sign of external damage,_

 _the meanings that are painted through the canvases_

 _suggest inner turmoil that cannot be fixed_

 _with present sunshine and rainbows._

 _Her broken heart is the least of her worries_

 _as she fights to keep everyone else afloat._

 _Through all of this, she often forgets herself._

 _Her broken heart seems unfixable._

 _Would you let me fix it?_


	15. Lunch and Syrupy Pears

"Thanks for such a great day!" Cory said as the kids filed out of class. "Make sure to turn in your homework tomorrow, and don't forget about the final on Friday! After that, we just have good-byes on Monday, and the school dance on Tuesday," he finished as the students continued on, effectively ignoring him. He sighed sadly and went back to his desk.

Riley laughed at his dismay. "It's okay, Dad. We're still here," she said as she patted his back. Cory just stared at her, annoyed.

"Yeah, Matthews," Maya agreed. "We heard your little announcement. No need to feel sad."

Cory rolled his eyes, exasperated at the smirking blonde. "Right, Maya. So, are you going to study and do your homework?"

Maya made a face, obviously about to disagree. "We'll see how I feel today after school. I might have a horrible cramp. Or I might just go to sleep." She smiled as she stood up and grabbed her bag.

"Maya, studying isn't a bad thing," Cory said as he tried to persuade the young student to do her work. "It could really pave the way for your future. You shouldn't look at it like it's the devil."

"I know it's not the devil," Maya replied. "I just don't feel like doing it." She said this with an indifferent tone and shot Cory a look.

"I'll make sure that she does it," Riley said with a smile. "We've still got lunch to go through and all of our electives! Maya'll turn around. See you later, Dad," Riley bid her father goodbye with a hug.

"Catch you later, Matthews. You having tater tots today?" Maya asked on her way to the door.

"You know it!" Cory said excitedly as the girls left, Maya chuckling all the way.

"Great," Riley said as she went to her locker and put away her history books. "You just got him all excited for tater tots."

"Hey," Maya said unapologetically. "We all love the tots. It's all I ever think of," she said sarcastically. Riley shot her a smile.

"Speaking of which," Riley said as she slammed her locker door shut. "What do you have for lunch?"

Maya shrugged. "Nothing much. Nothing at all, actually. I'm just planning on eating off of your plate." Truth be told, Katy had to catch a quick subway to Topanga's (they lived in a sketchy neighborhood far away from the pristine section that Riley lived in) in the early hours of the morning and couldn't make breakfast or lunch. Even though she had left some money for Maya, Maya couldn't bear to use that hard-earned money on food that was just going to be digested anyways. She ended up tucking it back into her mother's piggy bank named Carl.

Riley smiled sweetly, knowing not to pry any further. Whenever Riley tried to talk about Maya's home issues, Maya gave her the silent treatment- pride worked in mysterious ways. "That works for me."

The pair headed into the lunchroom where the rest of the group was already sitting down. Farkle had a plain ham sandwich (he was fighting a "not contagious" stomach virus), whereas Lucas had a whole cornucopia of food complete with a 4-course meal. He said that it was because of his mother's "Southern" hospitality. Zay's lunch agreed with him. Altogether, the two boys had more food than Farkle, Riley, and Maya combined.

The girls sat down, eager to eat before the lunch bell rang again. Lunch period was often too short for the ever-hungry kids. Riley had a brown bag lunch with a salad and a grilled cheese. She carefully tugged the salad tin and the sandwich out of the bag and started her ceremonial process of eating. This involved putting a napkin out onto the table and positioning everything _just so._ Maya scoffed when she saw the display.

"Seriously, Riley? A grilled cheese?"

"Hey!" Riley exclaimed. "Grilled cheeses are something that you can never grow out of."

"Well, I beg to differ," Maya said as she stole a chip off of Zay's plate. "It gets so stale when you leave it out for four hours." Riley just made a face at Maya.

"Hey, woman!" Zay shouted as Maya hurriedly took five more chips from his plate. "Watch where your hands are going! Nobody steals food off of Zay's plate. Not even his friends."

Maya rolled her eyes and stole a few more off his plate. Zay slapped her hands and quickly formed a barrier around himself with his arms.

Lucas laughed at his friends. "Hey, Maya. I have more than enough food. You can have some of mine."

"Thanks, Huckleberry," Maya said with a chuckle. "Although I'm sure that Zay has enough as well." She grabbed a spare plate that he handed her and watched as he generously doled out food. The group watched as Lucas carefully spooned in different foods onto the plastic plate. Even though paper plates were disposable, the Friars always seemed to prefer green items that were eco-friendly. This resulted in him always using a plastic plate that could be reused and washed. Throughout the school year, he had taken to bringing an extra plate for Maya.

"Don't forget the syrupy pears." Maya said crossly. "You know how I love the syrupy pears."

"Yeah, yeah," Lucas said as he gave her a big portion. He was just about to put the carton away when Maya gestured with her eyebrows once more. Lucas rolled his eyes with a smile and gave her another scoop.

Riley watched all of this with sad eyes. She forced herself to look at Maya and be happy for her. Riley was the world's happiest human- why couldn't she feel happy for her best friend? A friend that deserved all in the world. She looked at Lucas, who was, sadly, looking at Maya. He looked like a love-stricken boy, and for the first time in her life, Riley understood that it wasn't because of her. Maybe it was never actually because of her. Maybe Lucas was always deceiving her...

Riley forced the ideas out of her mind. Here was her absolute best friend- the only girl that meant anything to her. Riley sort of wished that Maya would respect the girl-code. But she knew how stupid that was. If Riley truly cared about Maya, the girl code wouldn't matter. Riley sighed. She wanted Maya to be happy, she did. But did it really have to include Lucas?

The rest of the gang continued to eat. Maya dug down into her plate and ate foods in their successive order: vegetables, carbs, meat, dessert. The preserved pears were her favorite junk food, and Lucas always made sure to bring some of the homemade stuff that she liked. Throughout all her ravenous eating, Maya grabbed Lucas's drink and chugged it down. Lucas snatched it back and stared down into the abyss.

"What happened to my drink?!" He exclaimed. "Half of it is gone! In two minutes!"

Maya wiped her mouth and shrugged with a sheepish smile. "Mom had to leave for work early today. No food for Maya since 5 AM!"

Even though Maya said all of this with a smile, the rest of the group couldn't smile back. A hush fell over the table as Riley stared at her friend.

"Maya, you didn't tell me this," Riley said with a concerned voice. "We could have gotten something on the way here, it wouldn't have been too hard."

Maya shook her head vigorously. "No, no! We all said that I would start eating breakfast at my house since we are getting back on our feet. My mom's already making money off of your mom. And we're doing fine, it's just today that I didn't have breakfast. No need to get so worried, Riley. I'm great."

Maya grimaced and clutched her stomach. "Okay, suddenly not so great. Lucas, I think I had too many pears."

Lucas looked at her, aghast. "I knew that this was a bad idea. Especially since you haven't eaten since you got up- the food might make your body go crazy."

"It's fine!" Maya snapped. "I didn't overeat; stop saying that."

"She's very particular about her pears," Riley whispered to Zay. He just nodded in response, afraid to make a move. Fiery Maya was not someone that anyone wanted to contend with.

"I think I need to go to the bathroom," Maya announced as she stood up shakily. "Be right back. Or after lunch." Maya grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Right back," she affirmed as she continued out of the room. She stumbled a little bit and had to rest for a while at the doorway before running out.

Farkle stared at Lucas. "What was in that, man?" He asked.

Lucas stammered for awhile. "Just pears! And a new kind of sugar that my mom is trying out."

Riley's eyes widened. "What kind of sugar?"

Lucas looked at Riley quizzically. "Cane sugar."

Riley slapped him hard as soon as he said that. Her palm left a red imprint on his cheek as he stared at her in shock. Even though she was still hurt over the Maya-Lucas thing, she couldn't help but stand up for her friend.

"Ow, Riley! What was that for?"

"She's super sensitive to cane sugar! She never told you guys! Eating too much makes her feel sick! And that-" Riley pointed to the pile of pears still sitting in her plate. "-is definitely too much. _Especially_ if she hasn't eaten since forever."

Lucas slammed his head on the table. Stupid. His mom had always put in maple syrup as a substitute. This was the first time that she used cane sugar, and it ruined the whole day. "Thanks for the information, Riley. I gotta go see if she's okay. Zay, can you clean this up for me?"

Zay saluted Lucas. "As always, my goodman." Despite the tension, the group snickered as Zay started cleaning the area.

"Shut up," Lucas muttered as he ran off down the hall.

* * *

Maya sat in the hallway, curled up into a little ball. This hallway was particularly quiet as it was the art wing- in a society of musicians and jocks, this place was often placed aside. Maya didn't mind, though. This meant that she could be here in peace.

* * *

Lucas ran to the first place he could think of. The girls' bathroom. Maya wasn't in there. It wasn't empty, however. That was an experience that he never wanted to relive again. The girls screamed at first, but then started giggling when they realized how attractive he was. A girl even tried to act seductive, placing her hand on his shoulder and talking in a low voice. Lucas bolted out of there, stopping only long enough to hear the hoots and the howls coming from the bathroom.

After that, he ran off towards the darkest hallway. Concealed in black light, the art hallway was the most neglected area of the school. But Lucas knew that Maya would be there. Lucas knew that art was Maya's sanctuary. It also helped that the rest of the school treated art like garbage- Maya could stay there for hours and nobody would find her.

As he rounded the corner, he saw a hunched figure that kept coughing into a paper bag. The girl's backpack lay forgotten beside her, and she continued dry-heaving. Lucas hurried over towards her.


	16. Lucas, Maya, and Riley

Lucas hurried over, afraid of what was happening to Maya. Was the allergy serious? Did she need to see the nurse? Take a day off? Nobody knew. And he dreaded not knowing.

"Maya?" Lucas asked hesitantly before kneeling down beside her. The girl was convulsing and choking, tears running down her face. She tried to overcome her fear and just let her body vomit, but she couldn't and instead dry-heaved, trying to hold onto whatever she had already eaten.

"What in the world did you put in those pears, Friar?!" Maya all but shouted at him as she curled into a ball around her knees. She continued to choke and cough, her back going up and down in time with her lungs.

Lucas scratched his head sheepishly, somewhat pacified. If Maya could still shout, she was still relatively okay.

"New recipe," Lucas answered. "My mom added cane sugar." He said all of this with a grimace on his face, knowing _now_ that Maya was allergic. Maya turned her head slightly and glared at him. Lucas threw his hands up in defense.

"Who in the world is allergic to cane sugar?" He asked incredulously. His eyes were wide and disbelieving. "It's the world's most natural sugar!" Lucas shouted in a fake sales-commercial accent. Maya laughed and slipped her hand out from her lap to slap him. Lucas ruffled her hair in turn. "You at least should have told me that you were allergic," Lucas advised as Maya looked over at him.

"I didn't think," Maya got out slowly, "that anything in today's age still used cane sugar. I thought everybody used aspartame or Splenda. Trademarked," Maya added with a little airy chuckle.

Lucas laughed along, relieved that Maya was okay. "I'm glad that you can still joke," Lucas said earnestly. "I was honestly so worried for you. Do you still need to go to the nurse? It might make you feel better."

Maya shook her head fervently. "I've been before. My allergy just induces some unpleasant side effects- they can't really do anything for me. It's like being lactose-intolerant and trying to go to the ER. They'll just give you some over-the-counter medicine and tell you to sleep it off." She coughed violently once again and rolled over her knees.

"Are you serious?" Lucas asked. "It didn't look all that benign to me."

Maya got up and stretched out. Her coughs appeared forgotten as she kicked the boy. She kicked him once more and gave him a glare when he continued talking about the hospital. "Will you just get off it, Huckleberry? I'm fine, Riley's fine, we're all fine. No need to go to the hospital. Life doesn't have to be so storybook-dramatic, you know?" Maya asked as she pulled her blonde hair into a ponytail. "At least I didn't throw up this time. I'm still relatively presentable, right?" She got up and pranced around in a little circle for Lucas to inspect.

"Yeah," Lucas said as he checked her over. "Your clothes look fine, but you might want to wash and cool off your face. You look like a red firetruck," he commented. Maya pushed him a little and ran off down the hall, towards the bathroom. Her ponytail bobbed up and down as she rounded the corner and vanished from view.

Lucas watched her go and chuckled. To think that he was going to have a heartfelt moment with Maya. Who was he kidding?

* * *

Riley loitered around the school entrance. After an extremely long day and a Maya scare, she was all but ready to go to Topanga's and work on her homework. The only problem was that no one was ready to go yet. Why not?

Riley sighed and texted Maya. "Where are you?" Riley muttered as she sent the text. Maya was always on time for her. Never late, but also never early, thought Riley with a little quirk of her lips. What could have caused this disruption?

Riley got a call back almost immediately. She dropped all her bags on the ground and quickly picked up. "Peaches?" She asked into the cellphone. "Where in the world are you? Where in the world is everyone?"

Riley could hear Maya's soft laugh and calmed down. Maya continued. "You forgot, didn't you? I have to finish up my painting for the school gallery next week. I'll be there in an hour. Farkle has to do his freshman Chemistry class homework (I told him that advanced honors wasn't a good idea), so he will be a little late. But Lucas and Zay had to go to the newspaper room real quick. They'll be there in ten minutes, but you'll have to go by yourself and claim us a spot."

Riley groaned, upset that nobody was going to walk with her to Topanga's. "Seriously? How come nobody told me about any of this?"

"We did, Sunshine," Maya said with a laugh. Riley often placed the blame on everybody but herself when it came to scheduling conflicts- she liked to say that she was extremely punctual. "You just never pay attention. Here- go into your calendar. I'm sure that we wrote all this down for you."

"You know what," Riley countered, almost 100% sure that Maya was indeed right. "I think I'm good."

Riley could just imagine Maya raising her brows knowingly. Maya laughed into the cellphone. "Okay, little one. I'll be there in a little bit, okay? Try to survive without me," she joked.

"I'll try," Riley whispered as Maya cut the line off prematurely. It was hard trying to keep tabs on everyone when they all had their respective "things". Being creative, sporty, smart. Riley wasn't any of that. So she was left to run around and be the pep rally manager. But who really cared about the pep rallies anyways?

Riley sighed and trudged down the steps, the sunshine glaring into her eyes. _How inappropriate,_ thought Riley comically. _The Sunshine gets burnt by the actual sun._ Riley stopped and covered her face, looking up into the bright blue sky. She heaved another sigh and began the walk to Topanga's.

* * *

"Hey, Mom," Riley said as she shuffled her way into the store alone. She looked up, expecting to see Topanga standing there with a mug of hot chocolate. Instead, she saw Katy, Maya's mom.

"Hey, girl!" Katy said as she hurried over and helped Riley with her bags. Katy smiled at her earnestly. "Not Mom, but close enough, right?" She asked quickly. Riley could do nothing but stare at the blonde who reminded her so much of Maya. "Please tell me that it's close enough," Katy pleaded when Riley didn't say anything.

Riley laughed a little, eager to have someone to talk to and get rid of her annoying thoughts. "Yeah!" Riley agreed. She always enjoyed Katy's company. "It's more than enough. I thought you were off today, though." Riley questioned as she spread her jacket over a few seats and placed her backpack on another.

"Oh, I was," Katy said with a helpless laugh. "I was, I was. But, you know. Bills don't pay for themselves, and Shawn isn't coming back until next week, so..." Katy drifted off and stared at the brunette. "Enough about me," she said with a firm voice. "Where's all your friends?" Katy looked around and stuck her head out the door. "Where's Maya?" Katy asked, searching for her daughter. Her eyes suddenly got dramatically large. "Don't tell me that my baby girl's in trouble again. She hasn't had detention in so long, she was doing so well," Katy continued to ramble on. Maya was doing so well in school, more than ever. She didn't want anything to stop her milestone.

Riley placed a hand on Katy's shoulder, willing herself to forget her own troubles to help another. "She's fine," she said earnestly. "She's actually finishing up on a masterpiece right now. Won't be here for an hour. Zay and Lucas should be here soon, though." Riley filled Katy in absentmindedly as she set her notebook onto the table. Riley continued talking about Maya and the boys, filling in Katy with whatever Maya didn't tell her.

"Are you okay, Dorothy?" Katy asked after a few minutes of Riley's rant. The little girl had continued on and on about virtually nothing, which was very unusual, even for her. "You seem a little," Katy gestured around, "distracted."

Riley laughed a little, not surprised that Katy was so astute. "Yeah, you think? It must be with all the end-of-the-year stuff, you know. Big graduation!" Riley laughed pathetically, hoping that Katy believed her made-up story. Katy almost never did, but it was okay to try, right?

Katy shook her head and Riley could feel her heart drop into her stomach.

"No, that's not it." Katy said as she stared at Riley. "It's about Lucas, isn't it?"

Riley sucked in a deep breath, shocked that Katy had gotten so straight-to-the-point so quickly. "What are you talking about? No, it's not. I'm completely over it," Riley scrambled out, " and totally happy for Maya." Riley said this last part in a whisper, and even she didn't believe herself. She closed her eyes and tried not to look at Maya's mother, whom she was sure was looking at her with disgust.

"Are you sure, Riley?" Katy said with little sigh. "You don't look happy. And it's okay to not be, you know," Katy said.

Riley smiled fiercely, unwilling to give in. "I am. Totally happy. Why wouldn't I be?"

Katy raised her eyebrows at Riley's little tirade. "Because Maya was the one who pushed you to him first, he was your first crush, you had dibs on all accounts-why should Maya now get him?" Katy had hit all the points that Riley had been repeating to herself at night, and Riley was by all accounts shocked and confused.

"Whaaat?" Riley's high-pitched squeal rang through Topanga's. The few customers that were there turned and looked at her quizzically before Katy motioned for them to look away. Riley stared at her. "How did you... When did you... How do you know?" Riley asked Katy in a whisper, tears threatening to spill down her face. "I thought that I was doing pretty well with this whole selfless act."

Katy laughed a little at Riley's act. "I've been through a lot more than your parents have, Riley. And even though they are the most perfect role models, most of our lives aren't perfect. And your parents haven't been through this type of trouble. But I have. You see," she said hesitantly. "Kermit left me and said he wasn't ready for a family. A few years later, he settled down with one of my friends who had recently moved to a different city." Katy heard Riley gasp and smiled at the little child's amazement. "Oh, I was hurt. And probably feeling a lot like you do right now. And I haven't ever really gotten over it." Katy admitted. "But my life goes on, and so does hers. And in the end, we all get to where we need to be. But it doesn't do you any good to hold on to any false preconceptions."

Katy sighed when Riley didn't stop crying. It appeared that she hadn't gotten her point across. Katy tried again. "So yes, on all accounts, this story seems tragic. First real crush instead falls for best friend? Totally tragic. But life knows what it's doing, Riley. Sometimes all you have to do is let go." Katy stopped abruptly and slowly showed Riley her wrist. On it, a faint _Shawn_ appeared, and Riley gasped lightly once more. Katy smiled and got up to give Riley a hug.

"Life knows what it's doing. Just let it go and trust."

* * *

Riley returned back to her designated spot and began her work. After a few minutes, she saw a shadow fall over her book, and a smile began to appear on her face. "Maya!..." Riley's voice died off as she stared at the boy in front of her. What was he doing here, without his friend? Why was he here all alone? Did he have something to say to her? Was he going to defy his tattoo? Was he going to choose her instead? Her voice shook on her next sentence.

"Hi, Lucas."


	17. We're Good

Riley felt all the blood drain from her face as she stood up to greet the gangly boy. They used to be so comfortable with each other, but now all she felt was dread. Why was he here alone? Riley could handle it if Zay were here, but with just Lucas... It complicated things immensely. Lucas seemed to sense this as he smiled weakly in return and scratched his head for a few seconds. Whereas before, they were able to launch into a conversation quite easily, now there was only silence. Both of them stared at the ground stupidly, not sure what to do or say. What could one really do?

"Uh, where's Zay?" Riley stammered out after a few beats. "Maya said that you two were coming together." Riley's words died at her lips as she thought of Maya. Her best friend. Right. Riley struggled to keep herself from crying as she thought of Maya's hopeful expression whenever she talked about Lucas. No, she wouldn't take this from her, Riley decided firmly. Not if she could help it.

But the body betrays the mind ever so easily.

Lucas chuckled softly and massaged his face with his hands. "Yeah, he got held up with the sports article at the newspaper club. They needed his input, apparently. He's really into writing about his favorite sports. Who knew, right?" Lucas couldn't help the awkward atmosphere that permeated the room. He knew that what he did was ultimate betrayal in the girl code handbook, but Riley was above that, right?

"That's good," Riley answered absent-mindedly as Lucas sat his stuff down and slowly eased himself into the chair. "How was your day? I didn't see you until after lunch, with the whole Maya-thing..." Riley's voice trailed off as her lips once again said "Maya". It was like nothing she did could ever rid her of her best friend, of the hurt that she felt. Maya was everywhere, and Riley would never escape her.

"Yeah, she's fine," Lucas replied quite easily, never betraying the confusion that he felt swirling around. "It turned out to be a really normal reaction- didn't need an epi-pen or anything like that." The kids sat in awkward silence as Lucas racked his brain for something to say.

"She was very angry with me," Lucas added after a moment.

Riley rolled her eyes. "You know that she could never be angry with you for long."

Lucas looked over at her curiously, and it was all Riley could do to not start crying then and there. She knew that Lucas and Maya were soulmates, but she also knew that they had something- way before Maya came in and messed everything up. Being so close to him messed up her thinking, and all she could wonder about was how safe she had felt in his arms. Maybe they could still have that. Maybe there would be a second chance.

Riley cleared her throat and decided to plunge in. "Lucas," she started off shakily, scared and timid. "Do you still have feelings for me?" Riley finished her last sentence barely above a whisper, but by Lucas's stiffened posture, she knew that he had heard her loud and clear.

Lucas rubbed his hands together, trying to prolong the silence. "You know that I will always think of you as one of my best friends," he answered sadly. "But, no. I don't." Lucas said, knowing that Riley would prefer for him to just spit out the truth.

Riley's eyes welled up with tears as Lucas nailed the hole in their coffin. She hurriedly got up and wiped her face with a tissue before shuffling away, sniffling and blowing her nose. Lucas got up quickly and shouted after her.

"Riley, what are you doing?"

"Just leave me alone for a little bit!" Riley replied loudly as she went towards the back of Topanga's. "I'll be fine," she said with a sob as she hurried out and collapsed to the ground, trying to stifle her cries.

Lucas watched her go helplessly, not knowing if he should follow her or not. He didn't really want to, knowing that the situation was tense enough as it is. Him going to comfort her and not "be" with her would only add salt to the wound. Besides that- he didn't really know how to talk to her.

Zay came in and slapped Lucas on the back.

"You saw all that?" Lucas asked miserably.

"Yeah," Zay admitted as he took a seat next to him. "And I gotta tell you. It doesn't look good."

Lucas buried his face in his hands and groaned. "You don't think I know that, Zay?" He asked his friend. Zay could only laugh. "What are you laughing about?" Lucas grumbled as he slapped Zay's hand.

"You know what you have to do," Zay said forcefully as he tugged Lucas to stand on his feet. "You guys, and I mean you and Riley." Zay clarified. "You guys need to sort this out. Once and for all. Lay it to rest. We all know that you guys weren't meant to be. I think Riley knows this, too. But she doesn't want to let the fairytale go. You have to go talk to her. You're the only one who can convince her."

Lucas rolled his eyes as he started the trek to Riley. "I really hate you sometimes, you know," Lucas said as he walked over to his doom.

Zay laughed. "No, you don't."

* * *

Riley sniffled a little as she took one last, long breath. Lucas hadn't come out for her yet, and she was slightly disappointed. However, she heard the slow footsteps that started approaching her, and her heart rate picked up once more. Perhaps this was it.

"Hey, " Lucas said softly as he squatted down next to her. "Zay suggested I come out here," he admitted. Riley's heart sank back down. So this was it. He couldn't even have bothered himself to come out and fix everything. Darn him.

"It's fine," Riley said as she wiped her face once more and made a move to stand. "I'm fine."

Lucas grabbed Riley's wrist and tugged her back down, ignoring Riley's little gasp of surprise. He couldn't afford to dwell on that now. Not when they had to get everything out of the way first. "You're not fine," he said forcefully. "I know when you're hurting. Even if things didn't work out romantically between us, you are still my friend."

Riley swallowed hard as he drove the nail even further down into the coffin. "Am I, though? We never talked much, even though at first I believed that we did. We never communicated, even though we had a lot of conversations," Riley talked bitterly as she reflected on their past. "How could I have been so stupid?" Riley rose as she talked with anger, ignoring Lucas's hurt face. "We never really had anything, did we? The only time we really talked, in the library... It doesn't even count! I said nothing, just listened as you continued. All I did was swoon. And that is all you seemed to care about. Being a Western hero and having a stupid girl to carry around with you. Hamsters and being a vet? What a joke!" Riley coughed out bitterly as she kicked the ground with newfound zest.

"I never meant to hurt you," Lucas said softly as he rose to meet her. "And it was never really like that. I really did like you."

Riley looked up at him with small hope glimmering in her eyes. "You did?"

Lucas nodded eagerly, happy that she was cooperating. "Yeah, I did. You were really good for me. For a first-time relationship. I think we both learned what we need to do in the future."

"Yeah," Riley agreed sadly. "No fairytales for me."

Lucas chuckled softly. "Now, I wouldn't say that that's true. But maybe fairytales don't all come in the same packaging. Maybe there's a different adventure waiting for you. Or, maybe, the adventure is just a small town life. Who knows? But," Lucas said as he looked at Riley fondly, "I never want you to think that I never liked you. Or that I was using you. I liked you as hard as any new teenager could."

"But that's all in the past," Riley said as she stared at him. "We had a good run, didn't we?"

Lucas nodded with a small smile. "It was fun while it lasted. And I learned a lot from you."

"And I, you," Riley replied as she hugged him tightly. "But I don't think that this was ever supposed to work. After all, I can list hundreds of things that I don't like about you, starting with your shirt."

"Hey!" Lucas exclaimed. "I got it from my Pappy Joe."

Riley smiled wistfully, happy that Lucas was going along with this. "And I know that you never really loved me. I never loved you. I don't think anybody our age knows about love, not truly. But we never really listened to each other romantically. You never gave me my fairytale, and I just wasn't enough. I guess that I just believed in you so much that I was willing to put everything aside." Riley looked at Lucas. "You were my knight in shining armor."

"And you were my princess," Lucas replied easily.

"But those don't exist in real life, do they?" Riley asked sadly as Lucas put his arm around her.

"No, they don't. Not in the way that we believed in them," Lucas agreed as he placed a firm kiss on top of Riley's head.

"It was fun while it lasted," Riley said as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"We definitely had some good times. And I will never forget you," Lucas promised.

"I would never let you, anyways," Riley countered with a little laugh.

Lucas pulled apart from Riley and looked at her with kind eyes. "We good?"

Riley heaved a deep sigh. "Yes. We're good."

Lucas smiled happily and gave her a big hug. "You ready to go back in? I'll bet that all of our friends are here by now."

Riley nodded. "Yeah. I just have to go to the bathroom first. You go in without me, I'll be there in five minutes."

Lucas gave his consent as he slipped back into the cafe. Riley trudged over to the staff bathroom and quickly splashed some water on her face. That was a lot more emotional than she had wanted it to get, but she was happy to have Lucas off of her chest. She could finally move on and let the past rest. She could finally let Maya be happy without feeling resentment. It was a good thing.

* * *

Riley finished washing up and gave herself a grin as she walked back over to her chattering friends. She quickly noticed that Lucas was over with Maya in the corner, but found that it was surprisingly easy to tear her eyes away. She missed the deep ache that accompanied a first crush, but was happy to be free of the burden.

Farkle quickly ran up to Riley and crushed her in a hug. "Sorry about being late," he whispered, knowing that leaving Riley and Lucas alone could cause major trauma.

Riley pulled apart first and shook her head quickly. "It's fine. Lucas and I were able to get our relationship in the clear again. I'm finally able to move on with my life."

Farkle's eyes twinkled as his face stretched into a grin. "That's great!" He said excitedly as she tugged her over to where Smackle was. "I have a friend to show you. He turned up at our Chemistry class today- he's a super cool dude."

Smackle's lips quirked into a slight frown. "He's already making your vocabulary sour."

"He?" Riley questioned as Farkle playfully glared at his girlfriend.

"Oh yeah, Gavin. He's coming in a bit. He has to park his bike," Farkle explained as Smackle took him in her arms and held him close. The pair continued to cuddle while Riley turned away to avoid vomiting.

The door to Topanga's opened very suddenly, and a boy with dark hair stepped in, his eyes bright with life.

"He's here!" Zay said gleefully as he went over to welcome the boy in. Riley stood rooted to her spot as the gang carefully brought Gavin over to her.

He smiled awkwardly as Riley stared at him. "Hi," he said. "I'm Gavin."

Riley felt her heart beating quickly and butterflies swirling around in her stomach. She didn't quite understood what that meant, but decided that it would have to wait for now. Riley smiled at him and quickly pushed her hand out to give him a handshake.

"I'm Riley."


	18. Complete 180s and a Yes

Lucas looked over at Maya anxiously. She could feel him staring at her but decided to look at Riley and Gavin instead. It helped to ease her nerves, worrying about Riley. It was good to focus on somebody other than herself. Maya smiled. The two looked good together, although Maya knew that Riley was still hung up over Lucas. Her stomach churned with guilt when she thought of her tattoo. She didn't know what she was going to do. She knew that in the end, something would have to happen. But she didn't want to hurt Riley in the process.

After a few more seconds of indecisive thinking, Maya pulled a paper out of her backpack. It was tan and tastefully aged. Lucas automatically stiffened when he saw it, and Maya grinned a little to herself. "Hey, Lucas," she said with a small smirk as she waved it in front of him. "Do you see what I've got?"

Lucas swallowed hardly and tried to plaster on a carefree expression. He didn't know why she was waving around his newest anonymous letter. He didn't really leave any clues of who he really was. Could she have honestly figured it out so quickly? "No," he spit out. "Who is that from?"

Maya laughed a little as she opened it up. It was funny watching him try to work his way out. "It's from you, isn't it?" she said nonchalantly. Lucas's jaw dropped open. The entire gang swiveled around to find Maya smiling with an evil glint and Lucas looking like he was about to hurl. Zay laughed a little and quickly hid behind Farkle and Smackle. The two rolled their eyes and pushed him in front. Riley's eyes narrowed a bit when she saw the familiar paper, but was disturbed by the new boy Gavin. She didn't really have anything to say.

"What's going on?" Gavin asked innocently as Topanga's seemed to come to a standstill.

"Oh, you haven't heard?" Zay questioned as he turned to face him. "There's this love triangle that's gone on for _years,_ and I mean years. They've never been able to properly resolve it. So here we are." Zay gestured comically to the pair.

Maya's eyes bulged out at his blatant and quite obtuse way of describing the current situation. "There's no triangle, stupid Zay!" She exclaimed as she stalked over and threw a napkin at him. "Take it back," she insisted to a laughing Zay who doubled over his stomach and waved her away annoyingly. Maya sighed and turned back to Gavin. "There's no triangle. There never has been. It's Riley and Lucas forever. They're quite adorable. I'm just the little devil that gets in the way sometimes." She didn't turn around to see Lucas's pained expression, but she knew it was there. Her own soul felt a little bit uneasy with the lie, and her tattoo seemed to be pulsing. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Riley broke the silence with a laugh. "You guys can quit dancing around me, you know. I know. About everything."

"What, you know about my anonymous letters?!" Lucas burst out in shock.

Riley's eyes opened comically as she stared at him for a bit and then angled her eyes downward. "Well," she started off. "I didn't know that."

Lucas groaned and collapsed back into his seat. "I just can't win."

Riley walked over and patted him on the back. "You can," she assured him. "Just not now." Riley turned over to Gavin, who looked immensely confused. "You must think that we're weirdos. Let me explain." Riley pulled Lucas and Maya up and squashed them together, ignoring the little whispers that Maya was sending her way. She grabbed a pencil from her backpack and used it as a pointer.

"This is Lucas. My first crush." Riley stabbed him with the eraser on her pencil for good measure. She turned around to Maya and also stabbed her on the nose. "And this, is my best friend." She stated while Gavin gave out a low whistle. "Their tattoos," Riley said as she lifted their wrists up, despite her friends' protests, "are for each other."

"What?!" Maya asked as she pulled her sleeve back over her arm, ignoring Lucas's gleeful look at her. She would have to deal with that later. "How did you know that?"

Riley shrugged casually. "I didn't. I just put two and two together. And came up with four," she said cheekily. "Anywho, I have been mooning over this sad cowboy over here for _god knows how long_ , so they weren't ever able to pursue their relationship. But now, I'm all better! I've accepted reality, I believe that life knows what it's doing for me, and most importantly, I am _happy_ for my two best friends. Not including Farkle, Smackle, and Zay. You guys are also my best friends. Love you guys," she sent a small kiss over to the trio, and Farkle pretended to grab it and smother it over the group. Riley laughed and noticed her confused best friends. She quieted down and turned around to them, taking both of their hands. Riley waited and waited until both of them looked her in the eye. When they finally did, she gave a small smile.

"I know that I've put you through hell and back. I put me, through hell and back. And I'm so sorry. I would never want to do anything to hurt you. I guess that I was insecure or jealous or both. I know that I've changed a lot over these past few weeks, but I believe that it's for the better. I love you guys. And now, I can confidently say that I have learned my lesson. I have met this part of the world, thanks to you two. Not everybody can have the first-love Corpanga story." She crushed them into a hug and pulled away to focus on Maya, who was sniffling and had red eyes.

"I know that I haven't been the best friend. And I know that my behavior right now seems like a complete 180, but I want you to know that I am totally sincere. I want you to have everything in the world, and that can't happen until I accept what is happening to me. I'm learning," Riley admitted softly. "I'm learning, ever so slowly," she added with a laugh. "But I am learning. I am reconciled with God, and I am happy. So," Riley took a small pause to lift Maya's chin so that the two were eye-to-eye. "I give you my blessing."

The brunette turned over to Lucas and placed her hands on her shoulder aggressively. "If you hurt my best friend, I hurt you. It's quite simple, really." She said. Lucas laughed and nodded. Riley tucked her hair behind her ear and continued. "I still like you. I think a small part of me will always will. But I know that this is for the best. And, I am sorry for ruining your life," Riley added softly.

"You didn't," Lucas said quickly. "We all make mistakes. We all learn. I've learned a lot from you over these past few days. You really matured and showed me how to be a better person. This doesn't even include all the years that we've known each other. You definitely didn't ruin my life."

"Well, for that I am glad," Riley said as she squished him into a final hug. "You two have my blessing. Now go and make babies!"

Maya looked over at her best friend quizzically. "Do you even know how that happens?"

Riley blushed and looked away. "Of course I do, I'm not stupid. But can we please not talk about that… process?" Riley asked. Maya laughed, much to her chagrin. "It's not funny. I'd just rather not talk about it with my platonic friends."

"Well, who else are you supposed to talk about it with?" Maya snorted. "Your mom?"

Riley blinked and looked away. "No. Okay, you know what? Let's order some food and let the lovebirds talk." She dragged the gang over to the counter, leaving Lucas and Maya to stare at the ground instead of each other. Shyness suddenly overtook the two and they spend a few moments in silence.

"I liked your letter," Maya offered.

"I like you," Lucas blurted out before covering his mouth in shock.

Maya giggled, a sound that had never come out of her before. "I know," she said plainly. "I like you, too." Maya looked up at the golden boy with a shy glance.

"Um," Lucas said as he rummaged around for a small crown of yellow flowers and a water pail. He produced them from his backpack and held them out to her. "The school dance is coming up. The graduation dance, I mean. It would do me the honor if you went with me, Miss Clutterbucket."

Maya rolled her eyes and put the flower crown on. "It's Hart, soon-to-be Hunter, you know." She took the water pail for good measure. "A water bucket," she said with her eyebrows raised. "Nice touch."

Lucas scratched his head awkwardly. "Yeah, I've been carrying it around with me for days. But I didn't know what to do with it, or whether to actually give it to you or not. And with Riley in the equation- you know that I'd never want to hurt her. Or you. I didn't know if you actually liked me or not, or if the tattoo was false, or if I was dreaming-" Lucas got cut off as Maya propelled herself into his arms, crushing him in a hug. Her tattoo pulsed a little, and Lucas felt like his heart was going to burst.

"Stop thinking," Maya whispered as she burrowed herself into his shirt. "Isn't that what you told me in your letter?"

"How did you know that it was me, anyway?" Lucas asked as he hugged her harder, never wanting to let her go.

She pulled away a little bit to look into his eyes. "I know you," she said with a grin. "And all your stupid mannerisms. And even your handwriting."

"How'd you know that it wasn't Zay asking me to write it for him?" Lucas countered jokingly.

Maya scoffed. "As if."

"You're probably right," Lucas said as he embraced her in another hug. He tentatively placed a small peck on her forehead, and was encouraged when he felt Maya mold into his body more. "So is it a yes? For the dance?"

"Of course, Huckleberry Lucas."

 _Dear Maya:_

 _I know that you don't know who I am. But I know who you are. I know that you like to paint, take long walks, do photography. I know that you like to mess around with cooking, but would rather have me do it. I know that your blonde hair shines under the sun. I know that you like Disney too much for your own good. I know that you're allergic to a lot of seemingly normal substances. I know that you fall asleep in science class. I know that I love being around you. I know that I would do anything for you. And I know that we are meant to be. I hope that life will eventually help us work out for the better. Maybe we need to stop thinking and just do it. Maybe life will tell us soon._

 _HBL_


	19. Graduation Speeches

Riley and Maya looked in the bathroom mirror one last time. Their uneasy faces greeted them.

"You think we're ready?" Riley asked as she stared at their reflection.

"Of course," Maya said as she slung an arm over her best friend. "We've made it this far. How could we not be ready?" Maya definitely wasn't as nervous as Riley was, but even if she was, she couldn't afford it. Not when Riley was a heaping pile of nerves.

"It's just that it's a whole different school and a different environment…" Riley trailed off as the fears began to invade her mind. "How will we know that we have been prepared?" she asked her friend.

"We don't," Maya responded slowly as the pair exited the room. "But sometimes we just have to take the plunge. Besides, it's not like they're going to let you stay in middle school forever. Might as well embrace it."

"I guess you're right," Riley admitted as they walked back to homeroom. "I'm just glad that we're graduating together."

"Not exactly," Cory said as he welcomed the girls back in.

Maya rolled her eyes at the teacher. "You really had to drop the bomb while I was still in the room?"

"Maya…?" Riley asked as a look of panic washed over her face. "What does he mean that we're not graduating together?"

Maya faced Riley and took her hands into her own. She heaved a deep breath and wondered how best to put it. How to put it so that Riley wouldn't immediately throw a hissy fit.

"We are graduating together, just not 'together-together'," Maya explained hastily. "You see, your last name begins with a M, and mine starts with a H… They line us up alphabetically so we'll be separated by a few people."

"A few people?!" Riley exclaimed. "Do you know how many people have the last name of Jackson or Lennon?"

"Not that many," Maya said as she smiled. "You'll be fine. I'll just be a few paces ahead of you."

"Wow," Riley said after some forethought. "Who would have guessed that you would graduate before me?" Riley mused as she stomped away. Why couldn't they have told her beforehand? Why tell her fifteen minutes before they were due for the stage? Riley grabbed a chair and plopped herself down next to Farkle, who was busy muttering to himself.

He looked at her with amusement. "What, did they finally tell you?" he asked.

"Yes!" Riley shouted. "And I'm not happy about it, either."

"Well, that's good," Farkle said distractedly as he looked up at the sky for unknown answers.

Riley took notice and quieted down. "Farkle, are you okay?" she asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

Farkle nodded with a sheepish smile. "Yeah, yeah. It's just that my little speech for graduating at the top of our class is apparently not-so-little." When he noticed that Riley was looking very confused, he carried on. "My dad dropped all his appointments for the day, and we're taking all of you out for a very fancy dinner. It's imperative that I do well."

Riley smiled nicely. "You have already graduated at the top of our class, Farkle. How is it that your dad makes you nervous?"

"He doesn't make you nervous?" asked Farkle incredulously.

"He does," Riley admitted. "But he's your father above all. You're already number one in his book. I'm sure of it."

"Thanks, Riley." Farkle gave his best friend a hug. "You really know how to make other people feel better."

"It's just a hidden talent of mine," Riley joked with fake modesty. Farkle laughed along.

"Smackle's coming," he said after a little while.

Riley's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Oh? She doesn't have her own graduation?"

"No, they graduated yesterday. She's bringing her family to meet me and everything," Farkle said as he wrung his hands. "A lot is riding on that silly little speech," he said with a forced laugh.

Riley rolled her eyes. "You'll do great. I think that Maya's speech for 'most improved' is stressing her out as well."

Farkle nodded in agreement. "I totally forget about that. I hope that she makes it a good one."

Riley looked over at her friend with a proud, swelling heart. "I know she will."

* * *

It was Maya's turn to panic. Even though she had been given two months to write out this little speech, she always felt like there was something wrong. Something missing. She had at least ten drafts saved on her computer, in case she ever wanted to go back and revise. Maya was officially freaking out. She kept muttering underneath her breath as she tried to make sure that she had dutifully memorized the entire thing.

Lucas noticed that she was having trouble staying still and slowly sauntered over.

"Hello, fidgety ferret, " he greeted Maya with a little tip of his hat. He too was giving a speech, since he was class president. His little index cards poked out of his gown pocket. "What's wrong?"

Maya glared at him and rolled her eyes. "I can't help but feel like something's missing from my speech."

"Well, what are you talking about?" Lucas asked as he pulled up a chair and sat down.

"About my life obstacles," Maya commented dryly. "I have everything in there about you guys, about Riley, about Shawn, about my mother… I just don't know what to put down."

Lucas mused over this quietly. "You know, I find that these types of speeches usually only affect the audience if you tell them what _they_ need to do. So why don't you find that silver lining and tell people how to achieve it?"

Maya looked at him, amused that he had found a solution so quickly. "That sounds good, Mr. Speaker. Say, have you ever thought of becoming a Senator?"

"Maybe it's in the cards for me," Lucas said with a smile. "I do want to lead people and help others."

"Hey," Riley shouted from the opposite side of the room. "What about being a vet?"

Lucas smiled sheepishly. "Long over, Riles!" he shouted back.

"Phooey!"

Maya looked over her cards again. "Hope," she said suddenly. "Having hope is the answer to everything. It makes you work harder. It makes you happier. It opens up your world."

Mr. Matthews walked over, clapping loudly. "It's beautiful," he said tearfully. "You guys are all grown up. And you're all going to leave me."

Maya hugged him with a little smile. "Finally," she jokingly said. "We finally get to leave you and your pseudo-history class behind."

"Well, that's rude," Mr. Matthews said sassily as he pulled apart. "You guys ready? Have your hats, your gowns on… Remember that your tassel can only be on one side of your head…" He walked away and started to get everybody's attention. "Everyone! We are heading to our own respective places now. You should have all gotten a piece of paper with your assignments. A-C last names, head to the art room. D-F last names, head to the math room…"

Lucas looked over at Maya sadly. "That's my cue."

"So it is," Maya said matter-of-factly. "You'll do great. And I'll see you soon."

"Yeah," Lucas said as he gave her a small hug. "Break a leg."

"You, too," Maya said as she gently pushed him out.

Riley noticed the exchange and walked on over. "We'll all do great."

"So we shall," Maya said with a little laugh as Mr. Matthews continued to shoo people out of his history class.

* * *

"Lucas Friar," the announcer called. Maya could see him bouncing around before calming down and starting his walk. It was amazing how many people that there were in the school. She watched him mount the stairs and accept his diploma, watched as flashes of light bombarded the stage. Maya turned back and saw Riley talking with Farkle, who was just behind her in line. Riley gave her a big thumbs-up. Relief flooded her body and she faced front again and squared her shoulders. She could do this.

The principal droned on and on. After accepting the diplomas, they had everyone seated. One by one, various honors were given out. Riley was awarded many awards, as was Farkle and Lucas. Maya got her own little award, and Zay was awarded the biggest round-of-applause that had happened that day.

But all of that was over. It was time for the speeches. And those five kids had to go upstage and speak to hundreds of people. Zay was up first. He lined up quietly behind the other students and clutched his notecards with his right hand. It was now or never. His nerves made him feel like bouncing off the walls. But people were counting on him.

Zay took a deep breath and climbed the stairs with vigor. "Hey, friends!" he said into the microphone. The audience tittered as they shouted greetings back. "I'm glad that we all made it this far in our education. I see a lot of familiar faces. But I also see a lot that I actually haven't gotten to know." Zay paused to take a deep breath.

"I was invited up here today to talk about friendship, and opening up to others. As we all move on to the next phase in our lives, it can be easy to get anxious, shut down, or keep to ourselves. But I can testify that that… doesn't help at all." Zay waved around the auditorium for good effect. "You guys all have your friends now. Hang onto them in high school, but also allow this new opportunity as a place for you to expand your horizons and meet new people. I was the new kid. I cannot tell you how hard it was to assimilate myself into a new environment. Especially when it appeared that my former best friend had already made new friends of his own." Zay looked over at Lucas, who appeared shocked that he had never known this before. Zay continued.

"But I pushed myself. I talked to others, I made new friends. Friends that I would never have guessed would become my greatest allies today. I'm looking at you, Farkle and Smackle," he said as he pointed the two out in the crowd. The couple smiled warmly and urged him to continue.

"I've got to cut this short, because our principal here will kill me if this exceeds one minute. But I just want you guys to know that having people in your life is one of the best things that you can do. You never feel lonely, you always have someone to talk to, someone to build you up, and someone that you can build up also. We as humans are social creatures. So, if you were shy in middle school, this next year is a chance for you to break out of your shell. Stick closely to your friends, and make some new ones while you're at it. Having people in our life is one of the most important things that we can do. As our favorite History teacher always says, 'People change people', and I believe that we all change each other for the better."

Zay finished and gave a big bow before hurrying off the stage. The crowd clapped loudly for him and hooted. Mr. Matthews gave him a big hug.

Maya bounded up the stage steps and tapped the microphone. Feedback blared through the speakers and everyone reflexively covered their ears. "Sorry about that," Maya apologized sheepishly. "How am I supposed to go on after that amazing speech, Zay?" Maya chided her friend lightly as she arranged her notecards. The audience laughed warmly at her joke at Zay's expense. Zay only responded with a loud raspberry.

"Today, I am here to talk about hope. Now, most of you know me as the most depressing creature of all existence." This little comment earned Maya titters that swept across the audience. "But, throughout the years, I have learned to hope. I have learned to embrace this little girl that I like to call Hope. Riley helped me realize this. She is my world."

"I love you, too!" Riley shouted.

"I had no reason to believe in hope. I had no reason to have self-confidence, or to believe that anything would ever work out for me. But she made me believe otherwise. You know, Zay was right," Maya said with vigor. "People change people, and I know that I would never have gotten here otherwise. My friends helped me get here. And for that, I am eternally grateful."

"Most of us never think about hope. We just accept it as part of our lives, and move on. But have you ever actually thought about it before?" Maya asked the enraptured audience. "Hope made me want to study harder, so that I could go to a good school and build a good life. It made me want to draw, it gave me the belief that my thoughts did matter and that I was talented enough to share it with the world. It made me the best friends in the world because hope made me work on my relationships with the people I love. It made me believe that anything was possible. It brought my mom back. And it brought Shawn along with her." Maya wiped a tear away from her eyes. "Hope makes us able to amazing things. You are able to do it if you work hard and believe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I guess that I just want everybody to see that there is something better for you, every single day of your life. Even if you think you've hit the top, strive to achieve even more. You never know what you'll find."

Maya walked slowly off the stage and went to stand by Zay and Mr. Matthews. The crowd cheered as Farkle sauntered onto the stage.

"Thank you, thank you very much," Farkle said with a little eyebrow lift as he shot a wink at Smackle. "I am here today to talk to you about acceptance. Throughout our life, we cannot expect to get acceptance from everyone that we meet. That would be impossible," he said with a little laugh. "Someone is always going to hate our hair, the way we look, the way we talk. Our beliefs will always strike a chord with someone. Or they might not. The point is.. you cannot change exactly how the world sees you."

Farkle took a big breath. "This is something that I've had to come to terms with this past year. You can always make sure that you get the highest grade. That you score the most home-runs. That you help everyone that you can. But there's always going to be someone who says that it's not enough. That the highest grade isn't the highest in the world. That your home runs were still phony at best. And that you're just looking for attention when you want to help everyone you meet. Someone will always be there to oppose you. There really isn't anything you can do about it. And if you put your own self-worth on what the world says about you… you won't ever be happy."

"I had a scare with Asperger's Syndrome when I was in middle school. And even though it turns out that I'm just weird all by myself, my girlfriend struggles with it daily. But I love her just the way she is. And even though I recognize that people will think that we're weird, at least we're weird together. My friends all have various titles: jock, artist, airhead, trouble maker. But I love them. And they love me. Acceptance begins with ourselves. We have to love ourselves before we can ever expect someone else to. But even after that, we can't expect everyone to love us. So acceptance comes from ourselves and the people we trust the most. But sometimes, all we have to do is be okay with us and who we are. And in the end, this will be enough for the people who truly matter."

Farkle quickly slipped off the stage as Smackle wiped her eyes and blew her nose loudly. "That was great, honey!" she yelled.

Lucas was next, his hands were shaking and his body temperature seemed to oscillate between too hot and too cold. Riley took notice very quickly.

"You'll do fine, Lucas," she said as she placed a hand on her shoulder. Lucas looked at her weirdly. "What? You will. I know you will," she said as she gave him a warm hug.

Lucas smiled, placated. "Thanks, Riley." He turned around and quickly mounted the stairs.

"Hi, everyone. I'm Lucas Friar. And I'm from Texas." The crowd laughed as he introduced himself like he did so many years ago. "That's what you heard me say the first time that I came here. I was young, naive, and totally out of it," Lucas admitted. "We are all going to have to go through that again soon. Pretty soon, we'll be in a sea of faces that we hardly even know. And we're going to have to introduce ourselves again."

"I have discovered," Lucas said as he rubbed his hands together. "Life is a bunch of comings-and-goings. We will always meet new people and have to go through that god-awful introduction again. Our life is ever-changing. It is always different from one day to the next. In fact, we ourselves are different from one day to the next. It is always different. Nothing in our life is constant."

"And that can be really scary. It really can be. Who are we? If we always change, who really.. is us? What defines us? Is it my brain? Does it encompass this idea of dualism? Or does it not? This year, I learned that the sole purpose of 'me' is that I am… me. I am not definable. I cannot be placed in a box. My favorite movie changes every single year. My favorite book, my defining moment, my situation in life is always changing. What remains still, after all of that, is only this _idea_ of me. This _idea_ of Lucas. And when we are going into these new territories, I think that we have to remember that."

"Your grades might drop, scary as that sounds. And if you've based your entire personality on your intelligence, then you might have a panic attack. You won't be good enough for the varsity team, even though you were amazing in middle school. You might have a dose of reality, and your trademarked hope might be gone. Your friends might leave you. In the end, you won't have a single idea of who you are. You will question everything that you think about yourself, simply because you weren't grounded in the pure facts. You are you. And when everything around you changes, you won't be a Texas war-hero anymore. You'll become a city boy. And even though I used to hold so tight onto the cowboy stereotype, I have grown into this! And it didn't change fundamentally who I am. I am still Lucas. And the fact that I'm different now doesn't change the fact that I am me. So as we go into our own separate paths, I want to implore everyone to just make peace with who you are, and not define it by outside factors. It is super abstract, and frankly quite hard. But I think that we will all be better for it."

Lucas got a huge round of applause as he went off the stage. Riley got her cue and slowly climbed the steps. She took a deep breath and began.

"Hi. My name is Riley. My father is Mr. Matthews. And today, I am here to talk about growth." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I have been through a lot, lately. I've… grown a lot, if you wanted to say that. But I have learned that growing never stops. That has been an important part of this year for me."

Riley smiled a little at the audience. "People change people. You all know that," she said slowly. "But what we usually haven't said is that people _continually_ change people. You will never stop learning or growing as a person. At least, I hope that you don't." Riley laughed a little. "We're never perfect. We have no reason to ever stop growing. Is there anybody who was ever truly perfect? Always right about everything? I don't think that's possible. This year, I was a little jealous. A little resentful. And a whole lot of hurt, all by two people who never wanted to hurt me. I didn't want to listen to them. I had my own fairytale in my head. And I stuck to it. I wanted no input whatsoever. I think that that's what led to my downfall.

"What I want you to learn today is that you will never stop growing. You will always have some part of you that needs to be changed because let's face it- perfection is so hard to obtain. But in order to grow, we need to listen to the people that we trust the most. And no, I don't mean that you listen to that weird guy who orders coffee at the same time that you do. I mean that you listen to those you trust and have been there for you every step of the way. They have no reason to make you fall. They _love_ you, and it is all you can do to at least listen to them." Riley placed her notecards in her hand and prepared to leave the stage with one last word. "And while you could always just not trust anybody and protect your heart… I don't think that that's any way to live."


	20. Graduation Dinner

Farkle scratched his head nervously as his father cleared his throat loudly in the banquet room. The speeches had gone smoothly, sure enough, but he never was sure of what his father was _truly_ thinking. And even though his speech had been about acceptance and all that- when it all boiled down to the naked facts, even he didn't believe it all the time.

"Everyone, I have something special to say," Mr. Minkus said as he called everyone for attention. "My dear boy here has finally grown up. He is heading off into the claws and clutches of high school, and we all know that that can be a scary business. But he has a very firm foundation thanks to Mr. Matthews over here, and of course his friends. I just want to thank you guys for being there when I couldn't." He turned to Farkle. "And I promise that I will be there for you every moment from now on. Even when I can't physically be by your side. Your speech really opened up my eyes- I want you to be able to look at yourself and be proud. But in the process, I want you to have someone who believes in you 100%. And I do now."

Farkle's eyes welled up with tears as he went over to his father and gave him a hug. Maya obnoxiously gave a little coo as Farkle groaned playfully into his father's shoulder.

"Thanks, Dad," Farkle said as he released him. "That means a lot to me."

"Always here for you," Mr. Minkus replied. He gave his boy another hug before pulling out a menu. "What do you want, graduation boy?"

* * *

Riley tried not to stare at the inquisitive boy who was seated next to her. Gavin couldn't get out of her mind, and it was driving her insane. She didn't know what she was feeling, and she didn't like it. Why did this boy have such a profound affect on her? Who knew.

"Hey, Riley," Gavin said shyly as he looked at her with warm, brown eyes. So that was why- Riley felt her stomach tense up as she glanced over at Maya for protection, only to find that her best friend was placing yet another bet with Farkle's dad. The only thing that she could hear was "You wanna bet that he lands in the dumpster by Day 3?". Riley turned back over to Gavin.

"Yes?" Riley asked stupidly. Her heart beat quickened and her palms felt sweaty. She just wanted Gavin to be done talking so that she could talk to Zay and be done with Gavin. That was it, right? That was why she felt so uneasy- she didn't like new people suddenly penetrating the friendship circle.

"Would you, I mean, would you care for…" Gavin stumbled around his words as he tried to formulate a question. His face contorted in concentration as he fumbled around. "Do you want to go to the graduation dance with me?" he finally got the words out as Riley's jaw dropped open. Noticing her reaction, he grimaced and tried to backtrack. "I'm sorry, that was too sudden. We haven't known each other for that long, and I just came right out and asked it. And the dance is in a few days anyways; so forget about it," Gavin said as he stared into his water. His hair tilted over his eyes as he wallowed there in shame.

Riley couldn't help the little giggle that escaped out of her mouth. His shyness and eagerness warmed her heart, and Riley suddenly felt her anxiety dissipate. "It's not you, Gavin," she reassured him as she took a sip of water. "I just kind of escaped a relationship, unofficial as it might have been, so I don't think that I'm too ready to dive in again. And don't sound so terrified of a dance- it's not like a romantic picnic by the beach or anything." Riley smiled at him encouragingly. Gavin visibly softened as Riley explained.

"Yuck," Maya said as she eavesdropped on the conversation. "Picnics on the beach are horrible."

"I agree," Lucas said with a fervent nod. "The ground never settles down because you're on sand-"

"- and the sand gets everywhere, and if you go swimming, you're going to freeze to death before you even get to the food. And let's face it: picnic food isn't real food. You just have sandwiches at a picnic. No thank you," Maya scrunched up her forehead at Riley.

Riley stuck her tongue out at the pair. "And you wonder why I wasn't satisfied with your romantic advances, Lucas."

"Haha, very funny," Lucas said dryly as the couple turned around to talk with Mrs. Minkus (who seemed to scare the pants off of Riley's dad). "What do you think, Mrs. Minkus? Five dollars that Farkle gets tossed into the dumpster by Day 3?"

Riley's eyes widened as she whipped back over to Gavin.

"They're just really particular people," Riley tried to apologize to Gavin. "Um, I don't want to hurt your feelings because it's definitely not you… But you do understand where I'm coming from, though. Right?"

Gavin gave a slightly sad nod of his head. "Yeah, totally. I should have thought about that before asking you. Would you still save me a dance sometime?"

Riley smiled widely at his kind yet shy question. "Of course," she replied as she patted him on the back. "I'm always up for a dance."

Mr. Matthews stared at the ongoing conversation and chuckled a little to himself. "Well isn't this just a hilarious turn of events," he said to Topanga. "Maya actually ends up with Lucas, and I think this here Gavin boy might be Riley's soulmate. He does suit her more, I think. Don't you think that the brown and brown make a nice honey-like aura surround them?"

"You mean the hair?" Topanga asked with a funny little smirk. "You mean like us?"

"Maybe," Cory admitted as he drew her into a hug. "Thank you for giving me my children, by the way. They are amazing. And so are you," he said lightly.

"So are you," Topanga repeated as she gave him a light peck.

* * *

Maya watched all of this with an amused stare. "Gross," she nudged Lucas with her elbow.

"Well, it's not all that gross," he countered. The two looked on as Mr. and Mrs. Matthews cuddled up in the corner for a private talk. "It's romantic," he instead said. Lucas looked over at Maya and smiled.

Maya scoffed in response. "Oh yeah, like you know what that even means, Mr. I Can't Even Ask My Date to the Dance."

"That was a long time ago," Lucas said with a smirk. "I'm surprised that you even still remember it. You sure you're not jealous?"

"Jealous of what?" Maya asked brazenly.

"That you didn't hook up with all of this," Lucas gestured to his body dramatically, "sooner?" He shook his shoulders around for extra flair.

Maya burst out laughing. "You are honestly so stupid," she cried with fits of laughter as she wiped tears away from her eyes. Lucas looked at her with exaggerated puppy-dog eyes. Maya rolled hers in return. "Like your mom would even let you touch the girl with the flaxen hair," Maya pointed out. "That'd be me, by the way," she said quickly when Lucas didn't immediately respond.

"Yeah, she'd put me in the shed if I touched you before it's all legal," Lucas joked.

Riley turned around with a confused frown on her face. Her two friends were laughing with red faces, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what was so funny. "What's not legal? Why can't you touch Maya?"

Maya looked over at her innocent best friend and burst out into fits again. "It's too funny," she choked out as she repeatedly hit Lucas over and over in the shoulder. "It's not legal because it's-"

Topanga quickly smacked Maya on the back. "No," she said sternly (with a smile threatening to escape her lips) as Maya quickly quieted down and gave an apologizing smile. Topanga ruffled her hair. "Not yet, Miss Maya."

"Yes, ma'am," Maya said with a little chuckle as she turned over to her drink again and took a sip. She felt the fizz explode in her mouth and gave a big, contented sigh. "Coke is honestly the best," she said with another gulp.

"Pepsi is better," Lucas bantered. He liked pushing her buttons- her reactions always made him laugh.

"I can't believe that I'm stuck with you for the rest of my life," Maya rolled her eyes as she tossed her napkin at him. "Until we're eighty, for goodness sakes. I can't even think a few months in advance!"

"It'll be fun," Lucas waggled his eyebrows. "Just wait until we're sixteen."

Maya's eyes bulged out of her head. "Oh my god! Who knew that you were so vulgar, Mr. Friar," Maya commented as she flicked a napkin towards him.

Lucas just laughed unapologetically and pulled her close, planting a kiss on her forehead.


	21. So It Ends

Riley gave Maya one last shot of hairspray before setting the canister down to look at her masterpiece. Her eyes welled up as Maya gave her a little twirl, showing off her sparkly dress.

"You like?" Maya asked with a grin. She had never felt more like a princess in her entire life, and had never been happier. Maya's mother had worked extra shifts behind Maya's back to help pay for this dress, and Maya was not letting a second go by without giving it a little bit more love. It was honestly the most _luxurious_ dress that Maya had ever seen, let alone worn.

"I love," Riley answered happily as she wiped away her tears. "You look beautiful, Maya. Any boy would be lucky to dance with you today," Riley stated as she smoothed down her own hair with her palms. "When am I going to look like you? Like 'wow'?" she asked Maya as she looked down at her own figure sadly. Tall and scrawny, Riley often envied Maya's blonde hair and curves. Her mousy brown hair and boyish figure didn't do wonders for her appearance-wise.

Maya hurried over and placed her hands on Riley's shoulders firmly, looking deeply into Riley's eyes. "You look so beautiful just the way you are! You never have to compare yourself to me to find your definition of 'wow'. Everyone has a different version of 'wow', and I personally think that you look mighty 'wow' today," Maya whispered as she pulled her best friend into a hug. "Even if we have different styles," Maya joked as she squeezed Riley.

"Thank you for that," Riley said as she hid her face in Maya's shoulders. "I really needed to hear it today." Riley pulled away from Maya with a small smile. "I've still been getting over the Lucas thing, even though I'm really happy for you two," Riley admitted. "It takes a long time to get over some things, I guess."

"I get it," Maya said as she placed a small flower into Riley's hair. She smiled softly. "We all need time with things. I'm still calling Shawn 'Shawn' and not Dad. It feels really weird," she confessed to Riley. "Having a guy in the house that is _actually_ a father. I always want to talk back to him but then I remember that I have to respect my elders. Shawn's now become my _elder._ What a rip."

Riley laughed. "Hey, at least you're learning cultural norms and becoming acclimated to society's standards. I'm proud of you."

Maya rolled her eyes playfully. "Yeah, and I'm proud of you."

The girls smiled at each other as Topanga came in. "You guys look amazing!" she exclaimed as both Riley and Maya giggled. "Don't go getting a big head, though," Topanga commented as she looked at the girls. Topanga gave her own hair a little flip. "I'm still the most amazing one here."

"That you are," Maya said as she gave the mother a hug. "Tell me, do we have anything that we're missing?" The girls twirled around and strutted back and forth.

Topanga pondered this quizzically as she looked around the room. "Your dates?" she suggested with a little frown. "They should be coming here to pick you up soon, right?"

Riley nodded vigorously. "Yeah, they'll be here just about now. We're all heading to school together. It makes the whole dress and make-up thing seem a little less weird when everyone can tell that we're going to a school dance together. It's not just two weird kids on the subway, it's a bunch of weird kids on the subway!"

"You're right," Topanga said with a laugh as she drew the girls in for a hug. She looked at them fondly. "My girls! I can't believe that you guys are going to high school after this summer! You guys grow up so fast."

"Totally agree," Maya concurred. "I mean, I would much rather still be in pre-school and having naptime after lunch. Growing up is a total waste of time."

"You know," Riley commented, "I hear that a lot of Asian countries have 15-minute naps for their high school students after lunch. It's supposed to help with productivity and stuff."

"I want to move there," Maya marveled with this newfound information. "We should go together!"

"Okay!" Riley said with a large smile. "We can go there right after we graduate and take advantage of the food! I love food." Riley's eyes glazed over as she started thinking about her true love- mashed potatoes.

Maya nodded and was just about to agree when the doorbell rang. Her eyes widened. "That must be them," she said nervously.

The three hurried out of Riley's room and opened the door, expecting to see Lucas and perhaps Farkle. A sly Smackle greeted them instead. She gave them a little wink to their shocked faces.

"Hey, girls," she said as she sauntered into the room. "How are you guys doing?"

"Great," Maya said suspiciously as she followed Smackle. "Where are the guys?"

"Oh, you mean Lucas and Farkle?" Smackle asked with feigned innocence. "I have no idea."

"You tell me right now or you will find yourself locked in Riley's room for the remainder of the evening," Maya warned with a low, throaty voice.

"Okay, well that got me revved up," Lucas said with a smirk as he and Farkle waltzed into the living room. "Maya, you look… great," he gasped as Maya twirled around with a giant grin. Her blonde hair shone through the light, and the dress flared out beneath her. Her eyes shone with excitement and her smile had never been wider.

"Beautiful, actually," he said with a grin as he pulled her in for a hug.

"Thanks," Maya said as she returned his hug. "You don't look so bad yourself," she as she smoothed down Lucas's tux. "The blue tie matches the dress perfectly."

"Farkle looks way better," Smackle said as she shoved the couple onto the couch.

"You know, not everything has to be a competition, Smackle," Lucas said with a laugh.

Smackle stuck her tongue out at him. "That just makes everything less fun!"

* * *

Riley wondered over to the snack bar and jammed a few pretzels into her mouth, washing it down with fruit punch. So far, only two guys had asked her to dance- one being Farkle, who apparently felt bad for her and abandoned Smackle for his long-time best friend. The other guy just so happened to be the school mascot who was scouring the dance looking for girls with no dates. It was better for her to have no partner than to dance with the school furbag.

"Hey," Gavin said nervously as he approached the sullen girl. "You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Riley asked with a snort. "I've graduated, after all. I'm at this _amazing_ dance with my amazing friends, who just happen to be with their significant others," Riley said as she turned towards Gavin. "I'm fine."

Gavin nodded. "Glad to hear it. I'm miserable. I don't know anybody and everybody is celebrating the last few years _together._ I really shouldn't even be here, I feel like a total outsider." Gavin admitted as he scratched his head. "I was actually just thinking about leaving but thought that I should come and check up on you since you were stuffing your face with cheese pretzels."

Riley blushed crimson. "Yeah, I eat when I'm nervous," she said with a little laugh. "You don't have to go just yet," Riley said, not wanting Gavin to leave. "You still owe me that dance," Riley pointed out as she pushed Gavin onto the dance floor.

"Too true," Gavin said with a grin as he clutched her waist and brought her close. Riley could feel her heartbeat leap out of her chest as his hands made contact with her skin. "This okay?" Gavin asked lowly. Riley could only nod with giddiness.

* * *

"Romance is overrated," Farkle commented as the pair circled around the school, avoiding the gym where the dance was being held. "These kids don't even have the emotional capacity to feel true love yet, even though their soulmate tattoos might tell them that they have found their one true love. All they're doing right now is grinding on each other and fooling around."

"Too true," Smackle agreed without much forethought.

Farkle snuck a quick glance at his girlfriend. What did that mean? Was this all just nothing to her? Did she not actually like him? Was he supposed to give her space? What did that mean, space? Girls were so confusing.

Smackle grinned to herself as she noticed Farkle muttering under his breath. "I know what you're thinking, Farkle," she said as they turned the corner. "And I don't claim to truly understand love yet. I don't think anybody our age does. They don't really need to, because they have their entire lives." She faced the poor boy. "And I do know that you are my soulmate, and that I would do anything to make you happy. And I think that we can work with that, even if it means just going out for fro-yo dates or... grinding in the gym.."

Farkle smiled with relief. It was true that he didn't quite understood love yet… but they had all the time in the world. Why rush it? Love was one thing that one should never hold to a standard- it was always unique.

"Yeah, we can work with that. I can always work with you, I know that for sure. Do you want to go groove with the lower class?" Farkle offered his arm to Smackle.

"I would have no greater joy," Smackle quipped as the two made their way down to the gym.

* * *

Maya and Lucas were dancing together, rocking back and forth in a circle around the dance floor.

"You having fun?" Lucas asked Maya with a twinkle in his eye.

"You?" Maya shot back without bothering to answer his question. "If you have to ask then it means that you're not doing your job."

"Feisty as ever, Miss Hart," Lucas laughed as he twirled the girl around and brought her back in. Maya's breath caught in her chest as the momentum forced her to collide with his chest. The pair stayed like that for a while, ignoring the heavy heartbeats and shallow breaths that accompanied their dancing.

"Hey, Lucas," Maya looked up at him slowly. "Do you ever feel trapped by me?"

Lucas's eyebrows raised up as he took Maya in. "Why would you ask that?"

Maya looked back down at the floor and shrugged. "You and Riley had a pretty good thing going. You're an attractive person- girls in high school would have gladly given you the opportunity to fool around for a bit. Finding out about your soulmate this early kind of locked you in, and I know that dating around is kind of important to boys."

"This kind of makes you sound like a downer," Lucas joked.

Maya rolled her eyes at him. "Exactly."

Lucas sobered as he realized that Maya was being serious. She really felt like she was hindering him and that she was holding him back. Or that she wasn't enough. And that was crazy.

"You're being absurd," Lucas said as he clutched Maya closer. His heart ached for the poor girl who never felt good enough. "You are my soulmate! And I love that I get to know you for so long. I'm not wasting any time. That dating around business is stupid."

"But wasting time is fun when you're so young," Maya argued as she pushed back against him.

"Well, that's not what I think," Lucas said. "And I hope that you get that idea out of your head." Lucas could see the blonde girl still thinking, gears in her head turning and turning. She was being insecure again, she was destroying herself and quite possibly all the relationships around her. That was a fatal flaw about Maya, not ever feeling enough. It brought her down and destroyed any motivation that she had to make life better. Riley was a good friend- she had helped Maya through dry spells, but even Riley couldn't even be there for her every second of the day. Lucas, being her soulmate, was the closest that anybody in the world could get to that. It was his job to remedy the problem.

 _No time to waste, then,_ thought Lucas, as he watched Maya look down at the floor, wringing her hands nervously. He bent down slowly and raised Maya's chin towards his. He detected just a shy smirk before finally pulling in and pressing his lips to hers.

It was destined to be.

 _The End._

* * *

See comments for this chapter for ending author notes


	22. Last Author Note!

Hello everyone-

This is just a little author update since I have a lot of people following this story and not a lot of people following me as an author. Girl Meets World has been canceled due to budgeting (among other matters). It simply costed way more than the other Disney shows on air and hasn't been pulling in nearly enough views. There are several campaigns for the show to move to Netflix or Hulu, and there is a huge movement called Planes for GMW. If saving this show has a big place in your heart, I recommend that you go online and find out what is going on to help.

Secondly, there have been a few nasty comments, all anonymous, since I finished the story. I have taken **all mean, hurtful, and anonymous comments down. I will never attempt to report or remove any comments that are from an account.** Go to my profile for more info on this procedure, but just know that I will not tolerate bullying from an unknown source. I will receive and gladly welcome criticism of my portrayal of the characters- namely Riley-, but I wish to do so in an equal setting, in which you do not have the upper hand. I will only be able to fix the problem if you allow me to get back to you and message you privately. Writing an anonymous comment means that I cannot do so, and instead harms me psychologically more than it will help future stories. In short, if you want your criticism to be heard, sign in.

Lastly- quite a few have expressed dislike about how I write Riley, and I will admit that she is a bit overdramatic at times in this fiction. However, I will remind you that she is not quite as "perfect" as many people seem to think. I wrote this a long time ago, and do realize that it is out-of-character sometimes, but I do not have a huge interest in revising it now. For the time being, I hope that the reasons listed below will show you how I came to my conclusion on how to write Riley.

 **Girl Meets Her Monster:** Riley believes that because she has done nice things in the past, she should be rewarded in the future and given free passes for whenever she misbehaves. She believes that _she deserves that._ It isn't too big of a jump to say that she thinks she should be rewarded with a nice life and a nice boyfriend because she does "all these nice things".

 **Girl Meets Rileytown:** Riley gives herself rewards for being good, in the hopes that she will do something good in the future. This is not inherently a bad thing, I actually love her for it, but it is interesting that she rewards herself for being good- she believes that behaving well warrants a reward. She believes that she deserves praise for doing nice things and uses praise so that she will do nice things in the future.

 **The Triangle-Arc:** "I made sure to bring you back to **where I needed you to be, and I was very careful not to go too far."** Riley point-blank states that her want for Maya to return back to her rebellious self was (at least partly) for her own benefit and not explicitly for Maya's. Riley isn't all that selfless and gets pretty catty when she wants to. There is no sensible adult who will say that reducing your growth to become more "au natural" is a good thing.

 **Girl Meets Sassy Halter-Top:** Riley says that "some little part of her enjoyed it", it being hurting Zay. No one else in the friend group can even **fathom this kind of behavior,** which implies that Riley has a dark side that might even be darker than Maya. Riley is largely a positive person but she does have a dark side that she manages to control, which I think is a credit and testament to her character, but you cannot deny it and say that she doesn't have an ounce of bad blood. She is just good at being a good person and controlling her "evil" urges, but it doesn't mean that she doesn't have it, and **she isn't incapable of doing/saying bad things.** Bonus: she is extremely stubborn ("and I certainly don't need your points of view"), meaning that she doesn't like to listen to other people, especially when they contradict her.

 **Girl Meets Upstate:** _"Uncle Shawn, my best friend is broken and you did it... I need it to be you because if it isn't you, then it's me, and I don't want it to be me, so it has to be you!"_ Riley blames Maya's behavior on another person because she doesn't want to be held responsible for it. **Like it or not, Riley does have a self-preservation instinct inside of her.** Everybody does, and I don't blame her, but it is what it is.

I could go on and on, but the point is that I don't intentionally vilify Riley. I take what the writers have given us and bring them out. I may do it too much and make her a little bit OOC, but **nothing is ever taken out of thin air. Everything she does has context, whether it's being selfish, mean, or overdramatic.** I do love Riley and give her a character arc in the end, even if it takes a bit of time to get there.

I appreciate everyone who has stuck by me and believed in me, and everyone who has left comments- negative or positive. Thank you for reading this story with me, and I hope that you message me to tell me your ideas, your angst, or even your anger at me. It might be helpful to remember that I don't actually know who you are, so you can say whatever you like and not face me IRL. I will be writing more stories in the future, so if you want me to make changes to my writing- message me!


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